


Smashed Minds

by TheWordMasterofFiction



Category: Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, Gen, Mystery, Psychological Horror, Thriller
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2015-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-18 20:48:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 48,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4719920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWordMasterofFiction/pseuds/TheWordMasterofFiction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On an island shrouded in mystery, a reporter gains access to an insane asylum simply known as the Mansion. Within its walls, he discovers not only a shocking conspiracy, but a deadly clash of wits that will put him between two rival forces. Who can you trust? Who is telling the truth? It's hard to tell when one walks the line between sanity and madness...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'm TheWordMasterofFiction, and welcome to Smashed Minds!
> 
> Some of you might have seen this fic floating around Fanfiction a few years back, and if you haven't read it yet, here's your chance! It's rare to find thrillers in the SSB section (and even rarer to find those who contain bits of Gothic influence or horror elements), so I'm hoping this fic not only begins a new genre in the SSB section here on AO3, but inspires others to write some thrillers of their own! Anyways, please enjoy this fic!

Chapter One: Arrival

The dense clouds of fog hovered just barely above the choppy black water, only parting to allow the rusted hull of the old fishing ship to cut through. David removed his thin metal glasses and wiped the foggy lenses with a portion of his black turtleneck before placing them back before his blue eyes as he faced the gloomy surroundings. A strong wind made the ends of his long black cloak flutter weakly like surrendering flags, and the air pressure was wreaking havoc on his knees that were hidden from the air by his tan pants. It felt like a lonely primeval world out amid the waves, with no land in sight and only the sound of the water to soothe his ears. Who would choose to travel such a desolate stretch of sea, on a day such as this? For a moment, David wondered if he had made the right choice in traveling out here, to a place he had only heard of in hushed whispers and late night drunken talks at bars. Yet, all the answers to his questions lay somewhere out in this misty miasma, and if he were to turn back now, his dreams and career would vanish in a flash.  _No_ , he thought to himself,  _it's best if I keep going_.  _There's no turning back now._

The leathery clunk of old boots alerted David to the fact that another person had joined him at the bow of the ship. It was an old man, with a wizened face that hid his squinty eyes beneath layers of age and wrinkles, and who had small twin tufts of snow-white hair that jutted out from under his faded yellow captain's hat. His uniform hung off his shriveled body in a way that made him almost appear skeletal, and David couldn't help but shudder at how the years had claimed this man. Although middle-aged, he feared the day when his body would overtake his mind, and he would become nothing more than a walking corpse like the man in front of him. In an attempt to lighten the somber mood, he turned to the old man and asked, "Are we almost there?"

The man, known as Kapp'n by his crew, turned his head in a way that reminded David of an old tortoise. "Aye," he croaked in a voice scarred by tobacco smoke and passing decades, "You're almost at th' island."

"Do you know of any good hotels on this island?"

A burble of laughter wheezed its way out between Kapp'ns cracked lips. "No man would dare stay on that cursed piece o' land under 'is free will, ever fo' a day. Only thing there is th' crazies: they own th' island, and nobody dare take it from 'em."

David frowned and absentmindedly ran a hand through his thick brown hair, whipping away the moisture as he questioned, "So if there's no place to stay on the island, does that mean I'll be bunking on the boat?"

This comment earned him another wheezy laugh from Kapp'n. "Th' boat be leaving as soon as you step off. There be only one place t' stay on this hellhole, and it's with th' crazies themselves."

"What? You mean you're just going to leave me here?!"

"Naw, th' boat'll be back in a month's time."

"You've got to be kidding me," David grumbled angrily as his stomach clenched in panic.

The old captain gazed at him solemnly. "What'd you expect-a lil' town on the seashore? This place is dangerous, boy. A person like you shouldn't be pokin 'is nose where it don't belong."

"Yeah, well my job is all about poking my nose where it doesn't belong."

Suddenly, the loud drone of the boat's foghorn erupted in the silence. "We're here," Kapp'n breathed, with what sounded like horror in his voice.

The captain was right, as the rocky profile of the mysterious island filtered through the fog. Waves pounded against its black coastline with terrible force, giving off a noise that sounded like the rumble of a million thunderclouds. The sheer cliff lines stood proudly against the overcast sky, as if taunting those who came close to run away in fear and never return. A dock soon materialized from the fog, and jutted out from a small space of rocky sand-the only place it seemed possible to land the boat. The wood looked to be warped and splintered, and twisted to the point where it could fall apart if you looked at it the wrong way. The old man grunted and knelt to lift up a long plank of wood, nearly taking out David as he swung it around to face the ocean. With another grunt, he lifted it with shaking arms and placed it on the side of the boat as they drew up to the dock. For a moment, it hung halfway between the edge of the boat and the watery abyss below, then with a solid clunk the bottom half hit the dock, creating a ramp.

This was it. Here was he last chance to turn back and head to the safety of the mainland, never to speak again of the island he now stood before. Yet...he couldn't describe it in mere words, but something amidst the shrouded rocks called to him, like a siren luring a sailor to his underwater grave. They had always said curiosity had killed the cat, but David highly doubted this was true. Curiosity was his driving force for everything he did in his job- why should he deny it now? There was no other option. He had to go on.

With a silent prayer for confidence and an adjustment to the pack on his shoulder, David took his first step off the boat and down onto the ramp.

"Boy!"

The ancient mariner's sudden croak made David stop a foot away from the bottom, causing the ramp to groan and dip under his weight. Pointing a shaking, bony finger with widened eyes the color of mud, Kapp'n boomed out, "Don't believe a word any o' 'em say! They'll try t' get you their side! There's a reason they never leave th' island! Watch your head, boy, they'll steal it away!"

David stared at the captain, and then hoarsely replied, "Thanks-I'll keep that in mind." With this he continued his last step onto the dock. The wood creaked and cried in pain from beneath his shoes, and the wind kicked up into a howling wail around him. Slowly the boat drifted away as he watched, vanishing back into the mist within moments of his arrival, leaving no one else around but him. The fog that had accompanied him like an old friend had arrived before him, and spread out so thickly over the island that he could barely make out the ground in front of him. In fact, he wouldn't have been able to see even the nose on his face if it wasn't for a pinprick of light that soon shone through the cloudy barrier. It bobbed, swayed, and slowly grew in size, until David suddenly realized that it was the light of a lantern, and that someone was coming to greet him.

Finally, the person holding the lantern emerged from the fog, holding the lantern above their head making it seem to float without assistance like a miniature sun. It was a woman who stood before him, a woman with skin and hair so pale that she seemed to be a lonesome ghost. She wore an old-fashioned white dress that pooled around her ankles, along with what appeared to be a nurse's cap perched upon her head. Lowering the lantern, she regarded the surprised newcomer with a single blue eye, while the other hid behind her snow-white bangs. "I take it you're our visitor," she said in a cool, clear voice, with her tone implying that it was a statement rather than a question.

David couldn't help but smirk slightly. "Are you expecting anyone else?"

A faint smile flashed over the woman's face. "Just one today, I'm afraid."

"Well then, that's probably me. I'm guessing you are-?"

"I am Rosalina- Nurse Rosalina to the other doctors and nurses who work here," she finished for him. "I have been sent here to bring you back to the Mansion."

Peering around Rosalina's shoulder, David tried to get a glimpse of the aforementioned Mansion. "Where is it exactly? I know the island's not very big, but I thought for sure I'd be able to see the Mansion from here. Is it far?"

The nurse raised a single eyebrow in surprise. "What may seem small on a map is sometimes larger in reality. The reason you cannot see the Mansion is not only due to the fog, but also because there are many hills here on the island and the Mansion is past most of them. As for how far it is, it's not too far-if we walk over a few hills behind me, you should be able to see it soon. If you would follow me, I'll lead the way there-be careful and follow my footsteps though, as the ground is slippery."

"Lead the way then." David began walking behind Rosalina, who moved like a specter and seemed to glide through the mist without stumbling. In an attempt to make conversation, David asked, "So, how long have you been working here?"

"Ever since my mother came to work here when I was fifteen, almost twenty years ago," came the murmured reply. "I watched her work and helped her with her duties, so I grew up wanting to help people. When she died, I took over her job as a nurse and have done the best I can do ever since."

The surprise on his face must have been evident, for she took one look at him and let out a silvery laugh. "I understand your surprise. I take it I look much older than I actually am."

"Uh...um, I wasn't saying you're old or anything..."

"I understand. When I first came here, people assumed I was some sort of ghost or witch. Now they just accept I'm an ordinary nurse and leave it at that." The pair had to dig their feet into the muddy ground as they ascended up a steep incline, as Rosalina finally asked softly, "What about you?"

"Well, I'm a reporter on the mainland who wanted to write about this place, I guess. Although there's a lot of speculation, no one really knows what goes on here, and I want people to read about what this place is all about. I'm actually surprised that I was allowed to come here and write a story about it."

"The Master seems to have made an...  _exception_  in your case," the young woman answered as she paused at the top of the hill and extended a long milky-white finger to point. "There it is."

David stared in the direction of her finger as the fog lifted up from the ground and was absorbed back into the overcast sky. Before him at the bottom of the hill loomed a large, old mansion flanked on either side by the coast and raging sea. Its red brick exterior was cracked and covered in choking vines of graying ivy, and the whole place seemed to be ready to crumble into the waters below. An aura of foreboding haunted the small windows it possessed, and seemed into the tangled and overgrown foliage that surrounded a rusting iron gate. It was a place as wild as the island it was built upon-and perhaps as wild as those who were confined inside the half-ruined walls.

This was the infamous Mansion of the Mentally Smashed and Insane, and somewhere inside David's greatest story awaited him.

"This place is definitely showing its age," David remarked dryly as he took in the state of the place.

"It's quite old- over two hundred years in fact." Rosalina carefully picked her way down the side of the hill, allowing David to follow behind her as they made their way to the black iron gate. "Of course, the mainland only provides us with enough money to manage the patients and pay for medicine, so there's never enough to even think of restoring this place." A brief shadow of emotion passed over her face as she opened the gate with the screech of rusted bolts shooting through the air. She took a long look at the front door of the Mansion, which waited in all its dark wooden glory for them to approach it.

"Something wrong?"

Turning, the woman looked to David with cautious eyes. "I hope you know just what you're getting into here, David."

It was only after this conversation had long occurred that David would realize he had never spoken his name to her. At the time though, her words made his blood run cold, but he merely replied, "I'm pretty sure I'm ready."

The nurse merely shook her head and strode to the front door, where she pushed open the double doors that creaked open with a sound akin to nails on a blackboard. As they swung outwards a blast of cold, stale air slammed into David's face, stinking of ammonia and bile and causing him to take a stumbling step backwards. An unearthly wail rose from the yawning darkness in front of him, but Rosalina merely moved forward as if she had never even heard it. Some part of David screamed at him to run and never return to this hellhole, but he felt himself numbly move forward and pass the threshold from sanity.

The entryway was large and painted a dull, tired lemon color, with only a single dusty chandelier suspended above their heads casting pale shadows upon the rickety double staircase. Other than a round table with a plastic vase of dying flowers, the room was devoid of anything else, which David found strange.

As if reading his mind, Rosalina murmured, "The patients are probably in the sunroom, since it's where they're taken after dinner."

"I thought they were too dangerous to be alone on their own..."

"Oh they are-why else would they be here? However, I and the other doctors and nurses keep each patient drugged to dull their minds and reflexes, and there haven't been any incidences. You have no need to worry. Now, if you would follow me, I'll take you to the Master-he's very eager to meet you."

With a feeling of dread deep in his gut, the reporter swallowed his nervousness and once again fell into the familiar stride behind the young woman, who veered right and ventured down a narrow corridor lined with dark wood. They passed a few doors on either side of them ("Those are rooms with all the patient's medical files," Rosalina explained) before coming to the end of the passageway, where Rosalina stopped and knocked on a set of black doors. Opening one a bit, she stuck her head inside and murmured something, then withdrew her head and stepped aside to hold the door wide for David.

Grumbling a quick thank you, David moved past Rosalina and into the room, as the doors shut behind him with an echoing thud.

Although not too large, the room seemed small due to the left and right walls being entirely made up of bookshelves bursting with various forms of literature. They stretched all the way to the far end of the room, where a large glass window overlooked the frothing sea. The sickly pale sunlight that shone through was the only light cast on the two sofas that faced each other in the middle of the room, which nearly hid the large mahogany desk that sat in front of the window. David might have missed the desk altogether, if not for the large high backed chair that faced the window.

A hoarse cough came from the chair, followed by a slightly nasally voice. "Don't be shy-come closer." As David walked toward the chair, the voice continued to speak to him. "Welcome to the Asylum. My name is Dr. Main, but due to how I run things here some call me the Master. Forgive me for not standing up to greet you, but I happen to be under the weather at the moment, and I'd hate to make you ill. I take it you are..."

"I'm David Kojima, from ' _The_ _Daily Newsstand'_ newspaper."

"Kojima? How interesting- that's a Japanese name, but you don't sound to be Japanese."

_Not many people would pick up on that,_  David thought to himself as he replied, "I'm partially: my mother was Japanese."

"Ah...and your father?"

"Never met him."

"I see." There was an awkward pause in the conversation before the Master gave another cough. "You know, I don't usually approve of journalists coming to the island: the patients here don't handle visitors well, especially those who come asking questions. Yet, I sense that you aren't like the other cookie-cutter journalists that try to come here. You want to come here because you are curious, not because you need a quick story or a one-sided opinion on our doings here. It's a different path you take, one that makes you stand out."

"I...suppose you're right, sir."

"Ha! I've embarrassed you already with my philosophical musings! I suppose it's the price someone like me has to pay...now then, I wish to inform you of a few rules before you go off on your writing, rules I had to establish since our staff and patients are unaccustomed to guests. The first is simple: do not antagonize or upset any of the patients. Some of them have delicate minds, and sometimes the simplest question could trigger them to do...well, things they wouldn't normally do. The second rule is also simple: you may hear of the Mansion's third level, but I wish that you stay out of it. There are certain things up there that I wish to keep private. Lastly, the most important rule." The doctor paused, and then finished in a deeper, deadly serious voice. "Believe everything. Trust nothing. Obey all. It's the staff's motto, and unless you stick to it while you're here, this place will consume you."

It was a strange thing to say, but David expected nothing less from such an eccentric person. However, before he could respond, there came from outside the door a stream of curses that would make a sailor tremble in fear. The doors behind David opened as Rosalina reentered the room, this time dragging a struggling young woman dressed in blue pajamas behind her. The woman seemed to be in her late twenties, with a slender figure and long golden hair that was more gnarled and wild than the prickliest of thorn bushes. Her eyes were filled with uncontrollable energy like that of an atomic bomb, and darted around as she kept her desperate fight against the nurse.

"I hate to disturb you, sir," Rosalina raised her voice over the other woman's yelling, "but one of the doctors caught this young lady palming her drugs instead of taking them. When ordered, she refused to take them and caused a disturbance among the other patients."

This set off another round of fresh curses from the blonde-haired woman, until Dr. Main finally ordered for quiet. As the room fell silent, he sighed audibly. "I believe this is the thirteenth time this month that I've had to speak to you about an incident, Samantha Aran. Every time I tell you the same thing: you need to take your medicine if you want to get better."

"I don't want to get better! I'm already fine as I am!" The woman glared with blue-eyed outrage at the chair the Master occupied, balling her hands into fists as she spoke. "It's your damn medicine that makes me unfocused...makes me forget myself. Besides, like I've said before, my name is not Samantha, it's Samus!"

"Miss Aran, Samus is a figment of your imagination," Rosalina told the woman gently. "You created her in your head. That's the reason you have to take your medicine, so you can be yourself and not Samus.

"I'd rather be Samus...at least she wouldn't put up with all this bull-"

"Enough!" Dr. Main's angry cry drew silence once again, as David watched the scene with a mixture of shock and fascination. "Sam, this is my final warning regarding your behavior. If anything like this occurs again, I will be forced to take some more... _serious_  measures. Do you understand?"

The woman-Sam-stared at the back of the Master's chair with a fury that threatened to burst out of her shaking frame, and with great control replied, "Yes sir. I understand."

"Good. Now then..."

However, Sam's eyes had drifted away from the chair at this point, and alighted on David, who had watched the ongoing madness without a word. For a moment, he felt as though he had seen her before, and judging by the look of recognition that passed over her own face he knew that she felt it too. Yet, the look quickly faded from her eyes as madness once again swallowed her whole, and she wrinkled her nose to ask "Who's the new guy?"

A sigh and a slight wheeze came from the occupant of the chair. "This is Mr. David Kojima. Here's here from the mainland to-"

Sam cut the doctor off with a sly smile and hissed at David, "So, what did they put you here for? Mental breakdown? Snapping and killing someone? Arson? Public indecency?"

"I'm not crazy," David told the woman as he stepped back from her volley of questions.

Sam let out a wild laugh. "Liar! We're all mad here!"

"Nurse, please take Miss Aran back to her cell- and make sure to increase the sedative tonight," the Master ordered, as Rosalina once again hauled the now-screaming and kicking mental patient out of the office and slammed the heavy doors shut behind her. It took a moment for the echo of the madwoman's cries to fade from the room, but once they did Dr. Main jovially remarked, "I'm sorry you had to experience that, but unfortunately that's how we must treat most of our patients here. They can easily turn from docile to enraged within a second, so make sure not to let your guard down when you happen to be among them."

David nodded, but his mind was still filled with the crazed screams of Sam, and the blaze of fire he had seen in her eyes. Was that what awaited him here; an island devoid of sanity or reason? If this was the case, it would either provide him with a story that would be the magnum opus of his career, or would become a memory that he would never again look back on. "I understand, sir," he finally told the doctor. "While I hopefully won't get too close to the patients here, I'll be sure to treat them with caution."

No noise came from the chair, until a sigh escaped the doctor. "You are a strange man, Mr. Kojima. To stay here on this island, alone...most people might consider it a sign of madness, but I see it as a man who is determined to find something. What do you wish to seek here?

"Knowledge and the truth about this place, sir."

"Then in time it will be yours, I guarantee it. Now, since you will be with us for a month, you will need to lodge in one of the Mansion's empty rooms. One of our doctors should be outside waiting for you in order to lead you there. I wish you luck on your story, Mr. Kojima, and I hope you find what you're looking for."

"Thank you, sir." David gave a grateful nod to the chair and then walked to the door and out of the room.

A silent moment passed in the office before Dr. Main finally hissed aloud, "It's a shame he wants to learn the truth...he has no idea what his curiosity will cost him."


	2. The Raven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Chapter Two! 
> 
> Not much to say here, but I will mention this: I've put an Easter egg in this chapter for one of the characters. If you spot it (some of you just might), be sure to point it out! It's a tough one though, so I'll be highly surprised if you find it!

Chapter Two: The Raven

Just outside the doors to Dr. Main's office stood a young man in a doctor's coat with stiff, spiked blonde hair and a white smile that could have easily made young women swoon. Seeing David emerge, he stuck out a gloved hand in such a suddenly motion, it looked as though he was karate chopping a patient of his. "Ah, so you're the reporter from the mainland!" the young man exclaimed in a high, nasally voice. "I'm Dr. Isaac Soloro, the head doctor here at the Mansion. Dr. Main asked me to give you a quick tour before we head up to your room."

Taken slightly aback at the doctor's energy, David nonetheless shook his hand, and winced at Isaac's iron grip. "I'm David Kojima...I hope you don't mind me saying so, but you seem pretty young to be the head doctor."

A quick laugh escaped Dr. Soloro's lips, but it seemed to sound hollow and devoid of humor. "I suppose twenty-five is quite young, but I assure you I'm well-trained for the position." There was something that passed through his eyes at that moment- almost a clouding over of emotions or a blanket of dark thoughts- but they passed as quickly as they had come, and he seemed not to react or notice. "Now, how about we start the tour? I don't think it'll take too long, since the patients already ate their supper and are winding down for the evening."

"Sounds good. I'm interested to see this place."

"Hate to break it to you, but this place isn't exciting at all." Isaac led David back down the hallway he had come from earlier, and out into the entrance hall where the pitiful vase of flowers still sat. The doctor came to a stop in front of the flowers and gestured at the wide space they occupied. "This is the entryway for the Asylum, or the Mansion as it's more commonly called. The hallway we just came from is home to the Master's office and the rooms with patient files. Over to your left is the hallway where I and the other doctors and nurses have our rooms, along with a medical room for examining our patients. Up the stairs-"

"How many nurses and doctors are there here?" David interrupted quietly.

Dr. Soloro gave David a sour look, and bitterly answered, "There are twenty seven of us here to do our job. Now, as I was saying, upstairs are the patient's rooms, and a few rooms where we restrain the patients who become problematic. Behind these stairs are the sunroom and library, and a hallway that leads to the kitchen."

"Library? I've never heard of an asylum having a library before."

"It's actually locked," Isaac answered quickly, with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Dr. Main's the only one who uses it, and he's made it off-limits to patients."

David wasn't the type of person to hate people, but he was beginning to find the young doctor's rudeness aggravating. "What about the third floor? Anything interesting up there?"

Immediately upon hearing the words "third floor," the doctor stiffened and narrowed his eyes. "There isn't a third floor here at the Mansion."

_If that's the case, then what the heck was Dr. Main talking about when he mentioned the third floor?_ David, realizing that he wouldn't get any answers from Dr. Soloro, quickly changed the subject. "This seems like a big place for only a few patients who are locked in their rooms."

Isaac still looked suspicious, but he seemed to relax slightly as he smirked. "Whoever said that we lock them away?"

"You mean that...?"

"Come on, I'll show you."

With a rising sense of apprehension, David moved with the doctor to the right behind the looming stairs, where a pair of large wood doors stood proudly. Dr. Soloro opened one of the doors with a creak and pointed inside. "See? Take a look."

Peering inside, David was surprised to see that the room beyond the doors was bright and cheery, with two walls of floor-to-ceiling windows casting a pale light onto the lemon-yellow walls. There were roughly thirty people (not including those dressed in nurse outfits or doctor's coats) in blue pajamas similar to what Sam had worn, who were scattered around sitting on threadbare couches, reading books, or playing what looked like checkers with one another. Easy listening music filtered into the otherwise-quiet atmosphere, with the songs broken only by the coughs and grunts of patients and the sliding of checkers. Someone who looked in might assume that everything was normal, but David could see the dullness that blanketed their eyes, and how each patient moved as if walking through a thick syrup.

"They don't seem very dangerous," he reluctantly remarked to the doctor after a moment's pause.

"That's because we have them all drugged to the gills. It's the only way we're able to have them all together in one place without having any...incidents."

"I see." The patients certainly were drugged, but the reporter couldn't help but notice there was something...off about their behavior. Sure, they staggered around as if in a drugged up stupor, but for some patients, it looked as though they were  _trying_ to act that way. It was strange, but David knew there were probably stranger things to be found here within the walls of the Mansion. "Do the patients stay down here for most of the day?"

"Yes: they receive breakfast at nine, and then are led down here to stay until lunch at two. After that, they come back here until dinner at six, and by seven they're all locked back into their rooms."

"Seems like a pretty boring lifestyle, if you ask me."

"It's perfectly fitting for criminals like these," Isaac muttered. "These are the worst of the worst, the ones who commit crimes because their sanity has been worn away. Due to their unpredictable nature, they are sent here where they have no contact with the outside world." The doctor paused to give David a glance, and the reporter realized that he was the 'outside world' mentioned. "This is the final destination for them. Here there is no escape."

The somber mood set my Dr. Soloro's words was broken as he shut the doors to the sunroom and turned to face David with his hollow smile. "Now, I think it's time to show you to your room!" he remarked with bitter cheeriness as he clapped David on the back and led him away from the door, indicating any further talk of the island and its patients had ended.

David said nothing as he was led up the wide mahogany staircase and onto the second floor, which was nearly identical to the downstairs (dusty yellow walls, chipped and splintered wood floors, and little lighting) save for the fact that a row of white doors yellowed with age took up the entire right wall. The row was split by a one-way hallway that trailed off into darkness, making it impossible for David to see what lay at its end. Acting as if there was no time for dawdling, Isaac pulled out a large rusted ring of keys and selected a small, dented one from the metal mass. Seeing the reporter's curious glance, he sighed and said, "Each of these keys goes to a patient's door. There's one for each of the thirty-some patients who are here, and no two keys are the same."

"That must make it hard to remember which key goes to which door."

"It's actually quite simple, if you know how to remember them," the doctor answered as he moved toward a door to the right of the dark hallway, and slipped the key inside until there was a satisfying click. It took a bit of muscle, but he pulled the heavy door (which was apparently made of metal) outward and gestured for David to look inside.

Calling the space a 'room' was an extreme exaggeration, for the word held far more warmth and comfort than the space David was now presented with. It looked more like a jail cell, with a single cot and pillow pressed up against one of the gray cinder-block walls, and an ancient toilet and sink squeezed against the other, with a lime-encrusted shower head suspended over the dirty mirror built into the wall over the sink. The only source of light came from a small window over the cot that was no bigger than a dinner plate, and was obscured on the outside by rusted metal bars. Just by looking inside, David knew that if he stood in the center of the room and stretched out his hands, he would have to press his palms against the walls in order for there to be enough space. These were the conditions in which the patients spent most of their days? No wonder they stayed insane!

Some echoing footsteps could be heard upon the stairs, causing Isaac to sigh. "Looks like the patients are being locked in their rooms for the night. I better go assist the other nurses and doctors, since it's my job."

"Oh, okay then. Thanks for the to-"

Before David could finish his thanks, the doctor had shut the heavy door with a solid thunk, without even bothering to say another word. It plunged the room into smoky darkness, and David took a moment for his eyes to adjust and for the reality of the current moment to sink in. After a brief few seconds, he sat down on the cot's mattress (which wailed under his weight), took off his coat plopped his backpack by his feet, and removed a brown, weathered journal from the front pouch. He fished around in his bag until he found a sharp pencil, then leaned back against his pillow, opened to the first blank page of the journal, and began to write.

" _01 November_

_Arrived at the Mansion today to begin research for my article on the infamous insane asylum. I was greeted by a nurse who seems to echo the same warnings that have been uttered by those I have told of my mission: that I am in over my head. Even the captain of the ship that brought me here gave me a dire warning before I embarked. Yet, why else would I have become a reporter if not to investigate the things normal people would shy away from? By staying here for thirty days, I hope to prove that the madness present here is not some of 'curse'' or an occurrence of the supernatural, as some on the mainland have been led to believe. However, there is something about Dr. Main- who many on the island refer to as 'the Master'- that makes me believe he is not being honest with me. While he is entitled to his secrets, the method in which he hides them is most peculiar, as if he wishes me to dig them up and uncover them. Perhaps-"_

Tap. Tap tap tap.

A small noise startled David out of his writing, causing him to glance up and notice that the sun had set completely, bathing the room in complete darkness. Time had apparently carried on while he was writing, and for a moment, he wished that he had bought a watch before he had boarded the boat. Suddenly, the light tapping sound came again, and with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance at being interrupted in his writing, he paused to listen intently. The noise seemed to come from the cinder wall beside his cot, and struck up a strange pattern the longer he listened to it. At first, it seemed to be meaningless, but after a moment, something seemed to click in his mind, and the taps began to sound familiar.

_Wait a second;_  David thought in shock,  _this is some kind of code_! Not wasting any time, he flipped to the next page in his journal and began to scribble down each tap as a single line, making the shorter taps correspond to small dashes. As he wrote he unintentionally began to write down letter instead of dashes and lines, as if this was something he had done many times before in the past. He didn't notice what he was doing until the tapping came to an end, and he paused to glance down in surprise at what he had come up with:

_Are you the reporter?_

David was momentarily stunned, not by the fact that he had managed to strangely translate something he had never heard before, but by the fact that someone on the other side of the wall was trying to communicate with him. It couldn't be a patient: Dr. Main and his assistants were supposed to be the only ones who knew of his arrival, and he was positive no insane patient could make up a code like this while under the influence of a multitude of drug cocktails. The only thing left to do was answer the strange message, so David leaned against the wall and- using his journal as a guide- tapped out a response:  _I am. My name is David. Who is this?_

An answer came quickly:  _Hello David. You may call me The Raven._

"The Raven?" David muttered to himself, then tapped back,  _Is this some sort of joke?_

_No. I go by another name, but I prefer to be addressed by the one the doctors here don't call me: the Raven. Welcome to the island of the smashed minds. Here there are no jokes, but there are plenty of lies. You already have experienced some of these lies from Dr. Main, who is keen in keeping the truth from you._

_How do you know about my meeting with Main?_

_I have eyes and ears everywhere, David. You could say that I am the true 'Master' of this place, although I do not arrogantly flaunt the title as the doctor does. I will not be like Main: I deal in the truth, but I can only tell you what you are ready to know. Knowledge here is a powerful weapon, and it is best to know as much as possible than to know nothing at all. If you wish to write of the truth of this place, you will have to dig deep and learn who exactly is on your side._

_Why are you helping me? Who are you really?_

_All will be revealed in time. For now, sleep while you have the chance, for tomorrow, your investigations begin and your naivety will be shed. I will speak with you tomorrow night._

No further replies came after this, and David knew that his mysterious correspondence had ended. With hundreds of questions whizzing through his mind, he attempted to sort through them all as he removed his glasses and set them on his backpack with his journal (not willing to risk putting anything near the grimy sink), then settled down and quickly fell asleep as his questions disappeared in order to prepare for more to be asked the next morning.


	3. The Grand Illusion

Chapter Three: The Grand Illusion

The dreams that haunted David's mind that night were both horrifying and comforting.

He dreamed of living in the shadows, of fighting and delivering the first blow to his opponent and of the screams of mercy his opponent gave as his life was snuffed out with a single swift motion. Each dream blended together in an orchestral movement of violence and adrenaline-fueled action, culminating into a moment where David found himself standing over a man face down in a ground soaked with pouring rain, with a heavy warm gun in his hand and the trickling rain washing the blood off his fingertips.

It was a horrifying nightmare...but it felt so  _right_.

These dreams seemed to last a lifetime, until the sound of someone pounding on the door startled David awake with a gasp. His room was filled with a pale gray light, the only sign he had that morning had arrived on the island, and it bathed everything he saw in a dreamlike hue. For a moment, David wondered if he was still dreaming as he yawned and reluctantly slid out of bed, just as another loud pounding echoed from outside his door.  _Oh great,_ he thought to himself with contained sarcasm as he went to open it,  _looks like they have complimentary wake-up calls here._

The nurse he had met yesterday- Rosalina, if he remembered correctly- stood on the other side in her uniform and greeted him with a small smile. "I'm sorry to have woken you," she quietly said," but I forgot to remind you yesterday that due to protocol, all breakfasts are served to the patients at seven, and...well, it's a little after eight now. Since you're not a patient, I asked the cook to make sure that there's also a breakfast waiting for you. You'll be able to get your meals from him in the kitchen downstairs from now on."

David almost felt his stomach rumble at the prospect of breakfast, but he managed to keep the hunger out of his voice as he replied, "Thanks. One thing though...where exactly is the kitchen?"

"You mean Isaac didn't...?" Her look of confusion quickly shifted to one of frustration and annoyance. "That man! He's always too busy with his own ego-centered tasks to help anyone, and yet he constantly asks for help from us." Shaking off her opinions of Dr. Soloro, Rosalina asked another question. "Do you want me to show you the way there? I have to head down to monitor the patients, so it's on my way to where I usually head."

"Yeah, that'd be great if it's no trouble. Give me a second though: I just woke up, so I'm a bit unprepared to go downstairs."

She nodded in understanding, and David allowed the metal door to shut behind him as he threw off his old clothes and struggled into a pair of fresher ones from his backpack. Knowing there was no time for a shower (and not quite trusting what exactly would come out of the showerhead), he opted instead to splash some water from the faucet onto his face. He dried his face with the sleeve of his black sweater as he ran a hand through his brown hair in an attempt to make it look presentable. For a moment, his blue eyes locked with their reflection in the grimy mirror, and he wondered if, after this experience was said and done, they would look at the world with a different light. Then he simply let the thought fall away as he pushed his glasses onto his nose, grabbed his notebook and pencil, and then reopened the door and stepped outside.

Rosalina was patiently waiting for him, and the two fell into step beside each other as she struck up a conversation. "I hope you had a long rest last night, especially after the long day of traveling you took to get here."

The Raven's mysterious tapping danced through his head, causing David to answer, "Yeah, it was alright...who's in the room next to me though?"

"The two rooms you're between are actually empty right now. There were a few...problems we needed to fix in them."

"Ah. So, it sounds like you don't like Isaac Soloro very much."

Rosalina bit her lip and gave a small shake of her head. "The doctor and I don't always agree or see eye to eye, but I respect him and the work he accomplishes rather than remember him for his personal flaws." She seemed to reflect on her words in silence, until she murmured, "Do you mind if I ask you a question, Mr...?"

"It's Kojima. David Kojima...and yeah, go ahead and ask away."

"This story you're writing...why is it so important to you?"

David paused as he was about to descend the stairs, mulling over the question. "On the mainland, I'm just a journalist, and one that isn't really held in high regard. This place is a fascinating mystery on the mainland, and is regarded with suspicion. When I decided to write about the asylum, I knew that this story would finally put those rumors and speculations to rest, and that it had the potential to make me a well-known reporter."

"So this story will make or break you?"

"Pretty much. Curiosity is a reporter's greatest weapon, and I intend to use it to its fullest power."

"The only thing is," Rosalina reflected while they made their way down the creaking stairs, "some questions aren't meant to be answered."

He couldn't help but chuckle. "Those types of questions are always the ones I want to answer."

"You certainly are a curious man, Mr. Kojima."

"I'm a reporter: curiosity is in my blood."

Although she didn't respond, the nurse's eyes seemed to speak for her and said, "Your curiosity will get you into trouble." David had seen that same look before in many skeptical eyes, and like those many times before he merely brushed their warnings aside. They had no reason to worry: he could take care of himself. Nothing would come of a simple quest for truth.

Luckily, he didn't have to defend himself or answer for his curiosity, as Rosalina passed through the hallway under the stairs and turned into a grimy, dark kitchen. The stink of mildew and mold that hung in the air made David want to retch, and for a fleeting second he pitied the poor souls who ate meals made in this place. Everything, from the pots that hung overhead and were scattered about, to the forlorn stovetop in the corner of the tiled room, was covered in a layer of filth that seemed to have no beginning or end. Whoever worked in these terrible conditions either must have been the world's biggest slob, or had lost his senses many years ago.

A dry hack of a cough interrupted the reporter's thoughts as a figure rose from behind the steel island that occupied the middle of the kitchen, and stepped into a patch of sunlight that came from a skylight above their heads. At first, David was taken aback at the person who stood before him: it was the tallest man he had ever seen, and yet thin as a twig, giving him the appearance of a stretched out, malnourished scarecrow. His skin was so pale that it was nearly transparent, and the shaggy mane of shoulder-length white hair made David think he was looking at an old man. However, it was the eyes that held his attention, for they were the color of fresh blood and gleamed with a dark predatory light. If eyes were the windows to one's soul, then the soul of the man before him was a dark and desolate place.

The stranger's horrifying eyes bore into David for a moment, and then snapped to face Rosalina as he raised a white eyebrow. "Can I help you?" A smooth, well-groomed English accent came from the stranger's lips, only adding to David's ever-growing surprise.

"This is David," Rosalina replied. "He's going to be here with us for a month, and I brought him here so he knows where to go in order to get his meals. Now, I have to get back to work, so I'll leave you two here to get acquainted." With a smile at David, she turned around and ventured back down the hall, leaving David alone with the pale stranger.

Neither man spoke or moved for a moment, until the pale man rolled his eyes with a sigh. "I still don't understand how that woman can be so bloody busy all the time. She'll be the death of me one of these days."

"I think she's been pretty helpful," David replied.

Chuckling, the man shook his head. "She usually is: that's what makes her the friendliest person on this damn island. Oh hell, where are my manners?" Wiping a long hand on his grease stained apron, he held it out to David and introduced himself. "I'm Miles Tibbins, the cook here, but you can call me Miles."

Having already been partially introduced by Rosalina, David gave his last name and the two shook hands. "I hope you don't mind me asking," David reluctantly began, "but I can't help but notice-"

"My appearance?" Miles seemed to smirk as he cut David's question short and moved to absentmindedly pick up a pot and study his reflection. "I'm albino: when I was born, my skin, hair and eyes had no pigment, which makes me highly sensitive to light. When I was younger, my mother kept me inside most of the time, which made some of the people on the mainland regard me as a freak. Dr. Main heard about me, and ten years ago, he gave me a job here as the official cook. Now I don't have to worry about unnerving anyone with my appearance."

"Wow. Dr. Main sounds like quite the kind-hearted individual."

"That's one way to look at it. I think it was more like he needed a cook, and I needed a place to go." Miles glanced up with a curious expression as a question crossed his mind. "Why are you here anyway? You're not a patient, but I highly doubt you're some kind of visitor."

"I'm a reporter trying to write a story about this place." David opened his notebook and jotted a few things down as he asked, "What can you tell me about this place? Surely as the cook you must know a bit about the Mansion."

"Well, it originally belonged to two brothers about a hundred years ago- filthy rich, the both of them, but very strange too. Rumor has it they were both recluses for most of their lives, and no one ever saw them leave this Mansion. All their food and necessities were brought to the island once a month by boat, but that was it. They had no workers, no servants, no cooks- not even a gardener."

"So what happened to them?"

"About fifty years ago, one of the brothers- the younger one, I think- went insane, as in bat-psycho insane. It got so bad that one day he simply threw himself over the side of the island's cliffs. The living brother was devastated, and angry that his brother had succumbed to a madness that could have been contained. So he sold the Mansion to the state and asked that it be turned into an insane asylum, so that insane patients could be sequestered away from society and looked after."

David let out a low whistle. "That's definitely one hell of a story."

"It most certainly is. In my opinion, it only adds to the insanity of this place...hang on a second; you were here for something to eat, weren't you?" Without waiting for a response, the cook bustled about, sorted through the old cabinets, and then through an old, rusted refrigerator, until he finally tossed a small object wrapped in brown paper over his shoulder, which David caught nimbly with one hand. "Here: it's a little stale, but at least it's edible."

The reporter unwrapped the parcel to find a biscuit with cold jam smothered between its flaky layers. "Thanks," he told Miles as he bit into the hard crust, savoring the sweetness of the jam and the burst of energy it gave him. It took a moment to swallow, but he got it down in time to ask, "So, what's it like cooking for crazy people? I'm guessing you don't get a lot of complaints about the food."

"It's definitely interesting," Miles replied. "You really need to see the patients in order to understand."

"They're all in the sunroom, right?"

"That's right."

"Then I probably should go pay them a visit and start work on my story. Thank you for the food, Miles: I'll be sure to stop by later for lunch and dinner."

The pale cook tilted his head and gave David an expression as if he was trying to read his soul. "I'll definitely keep something on the side for you if you get hungry. Good luck on your story...hopefully you'll find what you're looking for."

David nodded and, finishing the last bit of breakfast, went to seek out the patients he had heard so much of in his short time at the asylum.

* * *

It didn't take long for David to make his way to the sunroom, and soon he was back in the cheery space he had seen yesterday. As he casually walked in, he could feel dozens of eyes watching him, although the patients all seemed to be in the same drugged stupor and didn't even glance at him. He refused to let the feeling of being watched break his stride, and he confidently approached Rosalina and (to his annoyance) Dr. Soloro, who were involved in a quiet conversation in the far corner. "Hello again," he greeted the two. "If you don't mind, I'll be here for a bit to observe the patients for my story."

"Their drugs just kicked in, so they shouldn't give you any trouble," Soloro replied, although by his tone and expression it seemed as though he wanted something bad to occur to the reporter.

Ignoring the doctor, Rosalina replied to David, "Go right ahead. If anything does occur, Dr. Soloro and I are here and watching to help."

"Okay." David made his way over to an empty couch that faced the patients, and took a seat. The cushions were old and had lost their firmness, and as David felt himself sink into the quicksand-like couch, he knew that it would take a lot of effort to get back up again. At least it was a comfortable place to sit and take not of the goings on, he thought to himself as he opened his journal and began to write.

_02 November_

_The sunroom where the patients are kept is perhaps the only bright spot in this dark place. Every day the patients are brought here to be watched by the doctors and nurses, and some are so heavily drugged it's a wonder that they are able to stand on their own two feet. However, I can't help but notice that-"_

"Excuse me."

David, once again annoyed at having to stop in the middle of his writing, looked up with a scowl...which quickly vanished as he felt his jaw drop.

The man in front of him- if such a person was even remotely human- was massive. He had to be over six feet, and was built like a muscular, fleshy tank. His blue pajamas were large, but looked to be two sizes too small and hugged his barreled chest and beefy arms. Every inch of his exposed hands and arms were completely covered in tattoos, and the skin that could be seen was a pale gray hue that looked almost green. A long mane of braided red dreadlocks framed his melon-sized head and his lumpy, scarred nose, and made his eyes shine like patches of black ice. Overall, the man looked to be the kind that, if you would happen to anger him, would rip your spinal cord out of your body and violently beat you over the head with it.

"Can...can I...?" David felt beads of nervous sweat roll down the back of his neck as his eyes darted around the room in a panic. Where were Rosalina and Isaac? They didn't seem to be in the room...in fact, he couldn't see any sort of doctor or nurse in the sunroom. Where the hell was everyone? It couldn't be possible that such dangerous patients were left unwatched...could it?

The giant stared down at David with a nonchalant expression of boredom, and then spoke in a deep, bone-vibrating voice. "Would you care to play a game of checkers against me?"

That was when David noticed the tiny (well, compared to the man it was tiny) box of checkers tucked under the giant's massive arm. "Oh. Well I-"

"Of course he doesn't want to play a game, you dingbat!" A voice interrupted the silence as the blonde woman David had met in Dr. Main's office yesterday slunk onto the cushion beside him. Flashing a maniacal grin at the stunned reporter, she continued, "Besides, you know better than to ignore your checkers partner. I'm the only one who doesn't let you win all the time."

The red-haired man shook his head with a sigh, as if he was used to the young woman's antics. "You've palmed your medication again, haven't you? Where'd you put the drug this time?"

Pointing at a man with spiky blue hair and a red bandana (who was passed out on a nearby couch), she cheekily replied, "Looks like Ike's going to have a fun day today. Look how happy he is!"

"That's despicable, Samantha. Shame on you."

"Don't act like that, Ganny- we know you don't take your meds either."

"Actually, I do take them...they just haven't figured out that the dosage is too low to have any effect on me. Plus,  _don't_  call me Ganny."

Laughing to herself, Samantha turned to look at David, who had become pale during the course of the conversation. "Aw look Gann, we scared the new guy. Hey there, new guy: so you're supposed to be the 'sane one' here? That's a good joke. You're obviously one of us."

"Samantha-"

"Alright Gann, I'll quit messing with him. So. New Guy. Hi. I'm Samus Aran, but according to Dr. Main, I'm Sam. This big oaf who's desperate for company is Gann, although I know him as Gano-"

"Sam, leave the poor sap alone," Gann ordered dryly as he dragged a ragged ottoman over to sit on and began setting up the checkerboard on the splintered wooden table in front of the couch. "Let's at least try to stay grounded to reality."

"Reality my ass! You and I know this isn't really our real lives, Gann." Sam glared at the fellow patient and casually whispered to David, "You see, I'm really an alien bounty hunter."

"Uh... where are the doctors and nurses? Shouldn't they be here?" With each passing second without any sign or form of authority, David grew increasingly nervous about the situation he had found himself in. How exactly was he supposed to handle crazed individuals who could snap at a moment's notice?

"Aw, you poor, naive new guy- I'm going to call you Steve! That's a proper new guy name...well Steve; they're not here because they simply don't care about us. In their minds, they shouldn't have to waste time watching over a bunch of drugged-up individuals." Sam stretched in a cat like manner as she added, "Besides, it gives me a chance to have an intelligent conversation with someone who can actually talk coherently."

"But...Dr. Main..."

Sam's maddening eyes held absolute truth as she told David, "The doctor's led you down a path of lies. Everything here is just a grand illusion, coated in madness and sweetened with a hint of insanity. Control and deception are the rules of the game, and if you want the truth and want to leave here, you're going to have to play."


	4. Fortunes and Findings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some gore in this chapter- skip the last paragraph if you're squeamish or sensitive to blood!

Chapter Four: Fortunes and Findings

It took a while for David to finally fumble out a reply to this crazed statement. "You can't be serious. What kind of madhouse lets the patients run themselves?"

Gann chuckled darkly as he pushed each chipped and faded checker into place on the checkerboard. "This is no ordinary madhouse, I'm afraid. Plus, you're wrong."

"About what?"

"Main  _is_  in charge, even though his employees don't care about us. He keeps us together and drugs us so that we can't think straight and can't act as we would in a normal state. That's why some choose not to take their medicine: they are rebelling over the blanket of lies Main has thrown over all of us here."

"Blanket of lies? What lies?"

Sam opened her mouth to reply, but Gann shushed her and shook his head. "We can't tell you that...here the only secrets that can be kept safe are the ones that are never shared." Pointing at a small box overhead on the ceiling (which David realized was some sort of security camera), the giant man continued, "Main keeps us all on a very short leash. Just look around you- fear is everywhere in this place. Your only goal is to decide which fear you want to buy into: the fear of madness, or the fear of lies?"

"He's right, Steve," Sam said as she examined her nail with a dour expression. "You've gotta decide which side you're on."

_Strong words for a person said to be insane_ , David thought to himself, before quietly asking "Why should I listen to you? How do I know you're not the ones lying to me?"

A Cheshire cat grin blossomed over Sam's face at these words. "Do you think we are?"

"Hey!"

Dr. Soloro's staccato exclamation startled David, but Gann and Sam's reaction took his shock to the next level: they both seemed to fold inward onto themselves and go limp. Both pairs of eyes seemed to glaze over, as if something had been disconnected from within their tangled, turbulent minds. It was a startling change from the snarky, fiery individuals the reporter had spoken to mere seconds before, and David couldn't help but feel a sense of impressment at their display. Had he not known better, he would have mistaken both patients to be completely drugged. Before he could react further though, Isaac Soloro was upon him like a sudden violent storm.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" The question burst from the doctor's lips like a cannonball, as David stared at the flaming anger in the man's eyes. From the way Soloro looked rapidly back and forth between the two patients, David came to the conclusion that the doctor was angrier at the fact that he had potentially witnessed the patients talking to David, rather than David talking to them.

Gann slowly lifted his rolling eyes to stare pitifully at the doctor, and then pushed the closest checker to a new square with shaking hands. "Game," he said in a slow, tired voice, "I want to play the game."

"I'll play." Sam leaned forward slowly and moved a checker with a slurred laugh.

Isaac stared at the patients with a look of suspicion, then ran a hand through his hair and laughed. "Look at them. Dull as a bag of rocks, and they have no idea of what they did before today. I honestly don't know why you'd want to write about them."

"I thought you said they were dangerous."

"They are, but not in this state." Isaac curled his lip in disgust as he jerked a thumb at one of the patients: a short man with a brown mustache who sat next to a petite blonde woman. "See that guy? That's Mario Mario. A few years ago one of the other patients here- a gang leader named Bowser- snapped and abducted his girlfriend, Peach Toadstool. Needless to say, Mario didn't handle it so well and decided to get Peach back. He and his younger brother Luigi went on a killing spree and took out nearly all of Bowser's gang before the police were able to catch them. Of course, the girlfriend went insane from whatever the heck Bowser did to her, so she shot and killed his son BJ and escaped. Police were able to catch her, even though she tried to hit them with a frying pan, and apprehended Bowser after learning of her ordeal. Now we've got all four here, in the same room...and they have absolutely no idea thanks to the drugs."

"That's..."

"Crazy?" Smiling wolfishly, Isaac replied, "There are worse stories to be told. This is where you come when you've done something that renders you inhuman, something that snaps the mind and shatters the soul. Everyone here- murderers, rapists, pedophiles, pyromaniacs- they've let their humanity slip away in order to put on a darker coat of thinking. While they might be drugged, you've probably seen how easily those drugs can be...misplaced." Here, shot a quick look at Sam to see if she reacted, but when she didn't he continued on. "Those who still hold a semblance of sanity in our heads should keep a watchful eye and a cautious step. Keep that in mind, Mr. Kojima, when you feel like acting friendly towards our patients." At these final words, he turned around and walked off with his doctor's cloak flapping behind him, as if taunting David with a sly, snarky wave.

Words could not describe how badly David wanted to punch Dr. Soloro in the face. He was surprised no one had already done so- with that smug man being the caretaker and head doctor of the asylum, one would think he would have had his nose broken by someone fed up at some point with his attitude. Even if he wished to inflict bodily harm upon the doctor, David still had to behave respectfully during the time he was here, even if it meant having to ignore every snarky remark thrown his way. Yet...he really wanted to at least put the doctor into his place, perhaps knock his over inflated ego down a few pegs.

Since it seemed as though Gann and Sam were keeping up their appearance of drug-addled inmates (that, or they were engaged in one interesting game of checkers), David decided to move from his spot on the couch and see if he could find something else that was interesting to write about. As he unfurled himself from the couch, however, his pencil spilled from his lap and rolled across the floor with a clunk, finally coming to rest a couple of yards away at the foot of a folding table. Cursing in annoyance of his clumsiness, David walked over to retrieve it, but saw that someone already sitting at the table- a young woman with long, chocolate-colored hair braided in an intricate design down her back- had already picked it up and was holding it out for him as he approached.

"Thanks," he grumbled as he took it from her pale white hands.

The woman stared up at him with eyes the color of an afternoon sky, and then murmured in a rich voice, "It's talked to you."

"Excuse me?"

"The Raven- it contacted you."

A cold feeling washed over David, which must have been evident to the woman as she smiled. "So I was right," she murmured to herself as he shakily fumbled himself into the folding chair across from her, "it's decided to let you in."

"First of all, what the heck is that even supposed to mean? Secondly...how do you know-?"

"About the Raven?" Smiling shyly, the woman toyed with a loose piece of hair and answered "The Raven talks to everyone here, but some tend to ignore the words. As for the Raven letting you in...well, it's obvious, isn't it? The Raven has deemed you worthy of learning the truth. It is, after all, the one thing that speaks the truth in this house of lies, and those who listen to its words are the ones who have no fear."

Leaning forward, David asked, "It sounds like a joke to me. Tell me, if the Raven truly speaks the truth, then what  _is_ the truth?"

"The truth is no joke. You'll see that in time- right now, you still are not ready. You haven't chosen a side to take, and those who fall against the Raven could turn you to their side soon. Once you've picked a side, you'll be on the path to discovering the truth. In time, the Raven will guide you, but only when you are prepared to find the answer."

"Alright then, but could you tell me at least who it is? I mean, it has to be a patient, there's just no other-"

The woman held up a single finger for silence, cutting David off again. "You ask too many questions. If my goal was to tell you all that you wished to know, then there would be no need to continue our conversation, since you would already have the answers. Instead, allow me to ask  _you_ a few question, David."

"How do you-?" Her smug smile answered for him. "Oh, let me guess, the Raven told you."

"You catch on fast. Now, my question for you is a simple one: may I please see your hand? I was once skilled in determining and reading peoples fortunes and lives from the lines in their hands, and your life is one I am most intrigued to read."

"Uh, sure. Here." David held out his right hand as the woman took it in her own small ones, examining and tracing each line scattered throughout with deadly seriousness.

"You have great confidence," she admitted after a moment, "along with unbridled curiosity and the belief that you will always choose the right path. However, your quest to satisfy your curiosity means that you can be easily swayed by those who wish to deceive you. At some point in your life there will come a time when you will have to make a choice, and that choice will determine the result of the rest of your life. Both paths will have hardship and loss, but it is up to you to decide which you are willing to step down."

The woman let his hand go, and David took it back while looking it over. "You're able to tell all that from a few lines?"

"Of course: the information is there already, after all. One just needs to know how to look for it. In a way, the lifelines are like a puzzle: at first they appear jumbled together, but once you look at them the right way..."

"Everything falls into place."  _That's kind of like what's going on here,_  David thought to himself. _Everything is jumbled together, but the answers lie in this mess...somewhere._

"Exactly. Now, I'd think it would be best if you cease asking me any more questions."

"Why?"

"Something tells me Dr. Main is interested in speaking to you."

As soon as the words left her lips, there was a quiet cough behind David. He turned around to see an unfamiliar nurse with light elfin features and long hair that he could have sworn was a dark shade of green. She smiled awkwardly (as if she had never smiled before until this very moment) and then spoke softly. "Excuse me, Mr. Kojima, but Dr. Main wishes to see you in his office."

_Has Main been watching me this whole time?_  David glanced quickly at the camera Gann had pointed out earlier, and then said aloud. "Alright. Tell him I'll be right there."

"I'm supposed to lead you there, Mr. Kojima."

"Oh. Right." Sighing, he turned back to the brunette in front of him. "Nice talking to you. Any other future revelations you want to tell me about? Perhaps when I'll learn your name?"

"That one is simple: my name is Zelda Hylia. As for future revelations...well, where's the fun in spoiling the surprises of the future?" Zelda watched with veiled eyes as David was led away by the nurse, and then looked back at the camera silently watching her with a smile. "He has no idea," she murmured softly, "how truly mad this place is."

* * *

"Thank you, Lyn," the voice of Dr. Main hoarsely rang out from his office chair, which was still turned away from David as he was brought once again into the large office. The nurse, who hadn't spoken since she had escorted David from the sunroom, continued her silence as she left and shut the door behind her. David couldn't help but feel as though he was some sort of small child being sent to the principal's office for a scolding. It could be that the Master had forgotten to explain something important to him yesterday, like a rule he had let slip from his mind, but something told David this wasn't the case. In fact, a gnawing feeling had begun to form in the bottom of David's stomach since he had entered the office, which told him that any idea of this being a cordial meeting was a far-fetched idea. So, why was he here?

The echo of the door shutting barely had time to fade away before the doctor jumped to the point, wasting no time for pleasantries. "I was told you visited Miles this morning, Mr. Kojima."

_That's what all this is about?_  Confused, he nonetheless answered the statement. "Yeah, Rosalina told me I had to go to him for my meals. I'm guessing that he told you about it?"

"Of course. Miles is a fine man- one of the few that has my complete trust. I know that he is as loyal as they come, and that when I give an order, he will be the one to make sure it is followed. No need to worry though: he spoke well of you. In fact, he looks forward to reading about the Mansion when you finish your news story."

"That's nice of him." Deciding it was time to cut to the case (since there was no possible way he had been called here because of a few words from the cook), David asked nonchalantly, "So, what did you want to see me about?"

Dr. Main was strangely quiet, and David almost asked his question again when the response finally filtered out from behind the chair. "I wanted to talk to you about something important...something that only came to mind this morning."

The way the Master said 'something' made it sound like he wanted to say 'someone' instead, which left little doubt in David's mind as to what was about to be discussed. The doctor, however, continued onward. "Recently, there has been talk as to something that concerns me; something that I feel is going against the authority of both me and the staff who work here-"

"You mean the Raven."

Absolute silence followed David's interruption, until it was cut by the doctor's voice, which was slow and streaked through with barely controlled venom. 'Where have you heard that name?"

Knowing he had landed in dangerous waters, David said the first thing that came to mind. "One of the patients spoke about it this morning when I was working. I honestly thought it might have been some drug-induced rambling." While it was a lie, there still was some grain of truth buried within: after all, a patient  _had_  spoken that mysterious name that morning. "What does it mean?"

It seemed to fool Dr. Main, who could be heard shifting in his chair with a creaking sound. "I see. The Raven is something a few patients have cooked up while they have decided to be deceitful about taking their medicine." His disgust for the idea was evident as he continued, "According to the rumor, the Raven is a mysterious force that secretly runs the Mansion, and is uniting the patients together for a mini-coup of sorts in order to leave here and go back to normal life."

"So I'm guessing none of that's real?"

Main wheezed out a laugh. "Of course not! It's all ridiculous- a crazy tale created by equally crazy individuals." His voice suddenly took on a grave tone as he added, "Don't believe a single word they say, Mr. Kojima, even for a single second. They're liars disguised as misunderstood souls. There is no Raven, nor is there any trouble besides the type they wish to start. Trust me."

_Trust me._ Those two words were the ones that stuck out to David the most, not because of how simple they were, but because it was a command. The Master was leaving him no other option as to what to believe: he didn't want David investigating the Raven or any mystery it held. He wanted David to stay on the path of though he had crafted for him...yet was this the path David should stay on? It seemed the safe thing to do, but then again, no groundbreaking story had even been notable because it was considered "safe". He had come here seeking an exciting story, and that was what he was going to leave with- the most exciting story he could find. David had been taught from an early age that there were two sides to every story...maybe now was the time that he should learn both sides in the twisted tale taking place.

"I trust you," David said, and with that single sentence he entered the shadowy game of lies that had begun.

* * *

_So you don't trust Main?_  The erratic tapping of the Raven echoed through the darkened room David once again occupied later that evening.

_I don't trust anyone,_ David replied. Strangely enough, this conversation was the highlight of his day since talking to Main: he had spent the rest of the day in the sunroom writing, yet no patient acted out of the ordinary (even Sam, Gann, and the strange woman Zelda were placid). So up until now things had been pretty boring.

The Raven took their time to answer.  _You can trust me._

_Can I? How do I know you're telling me the truth?_

_Why would I have a reason not to?_

_Main is convinced you're nothing more than a rumor._

A long, painful silence followed, and it nearly drove David to go to bed, thinking the conversation was over. Then came the sound of tapping.  _I am well aware of Main's opinions, and of his conversation with you today, David. He is the type who hides his fear by denying anything that goes against his beliefs and reasoning. Trust me when I say that I am no rumor or myth._ More tapping came from the wall, each sounding as if more and more anger was being applied to the complex code.  _Here. Do you still doubt me? Do you still think me to be a figment conjured up by a raving lunatic? Let me show you how much of a liar Main is. Let me show you how 'real' I truly am. Go out your door and down the stairs._

Something about the final sentence struck David as being odd, but he didn't dwell on this feeling as he slipped into his shoes and opened the door with a creak. The hallway was deathly silent and nearly devoid of light, with only the light from downstairs filtering upwards and casting pale fingerlike shadows onto the floor. They were almost like claws, claws that tried to grab at David's heels as he stealthily made his way to the stairs. He was so preoccupied in being quiet that he almost fell down the stairs when his foot stumbled onto the first step. It caused him to lose his balance and let out a hissed curse, which he quickly muffled as he regained his balance, listening meanwhile to make sure no one had heard him. Once he was sure that his gaffe had gone undetected, he crept wordlessly down the rest of the steps to the ground floor.

The moon outside the small window in the entry hall had become obscured by clouds, making it difficult to see much in the hall. As David finally reached the bottom of the stairs, his first thought was that nothing seemed to be amiss. The table in the entryway looked fine, as did the fake flowers that rested on it. Nothing seemed wrong or out of place, and no one was around.

Then, something wet suddenly struck David's forehead with a splat.

Instinctively, he stepped back and wiped the substance off in surprise, feeling warm, sticky wetness between his fingers. There was just enough light for him to see that the liquid was a dark color...and as he stared down at his fingers, he realized that large pools of the same liquid were in front of him on the floor, which he had missed when he had come down the stairs. More drops of the stuff were dripping into the puddles and making them grow, and as David stared at them in surprise, the moon shed its cloudy cover and illuminated the puddles, which shone with a dusky red color. Slowly, he raised his head and saw the source of the substance lazily swinging above his head from the chandelier: the corpse of a young woman, whose mouth was still open in a silent scream of pure agony Her face was awash in a stream of blood, which poured from the gaps where her eyes had once been, running in small rivers down her upwards-pointing chin, which was snugly hugged by a noose of rope. Every part of her was covered in dark red blood, except for the front of her white nurse's uniform. For there a single message had been sloppily written in the blood of the victim, a message that stood out as the moonlight hit it and illuminated the five red words.

_Do yoU beliEve me Now?_

 


	5. Eye of the Storm

Chapter Five: Eye of the Storm

It was as if a terrible car accident had taken place: David wanted to look away, but couldn't take his eyes off the swinging corpse suspended above him. His heart stopped as he gazed in horror at the bloody holes where the eyes of the nurse had once been, and then looked at the message scrawled across her in her own blood. His mind worked to overcome what he was seeing by logically repeating that this couldn't possibly be the work of the Raven. Whoever it was wouldn't have had enough time to commit such a terrible act while talking to David. Yet the message was obviously meant for his eyes, and the Raven had directed him down here, so the possibility still existed. This explanation produced another question: who was the Raven, and why had it committed such a violent and brazen act against the nurse in the first place?

"Who's there?"

The sudden crack of a voice in the silence startled David, who spun around only to have a blinding light strike his face. Dazed and blinking, he was briefly stunned until the light was lowered, revealing Dr. Soloro standing a few feet away with evident confusion and a flashlight in his hand. He seemed to have been awoken and had gone to investigate, since he had traded his doctor's coat for a gray tee shirt and plaid flannel pajama bottoms. Such a combination would be amusing for someone who usually looked so professional, but in this situation, all humor was removed.

"Mr. Kojima?" Dr. Soloro looked surprised, and then glared suspiciously. "What the hell are you doing out here this late-?"

As he had asked his question, the doctor had move his flashlight beam, which now illuminated the corpse for him to see, causing him to fade off as he finally noticed it. At first, he merely blinked, as if not quite realizing what he was seeing was real. Then his eyes widened in horror as the shock and truth slammed into his mind, while his face paled to the point where he looked ready to pass out. A garbled cry bubbled up in his throat and combined with the beginning of a curse, as Soloro dropped the flashlight with a clunk and shakily took a step back, before wrenching forward and violently throwing up onto the floor. The sudden action made David wince as he contained his own feelings of sickness and disgust, but he couldn't help but feel a semblance of pity for the doctor. "I didn't do this- I just found her like this only a few seconds-" David tried to explain himself, but was silenced when the doctor stuck up a hand, as he had recovered enough to assume a bent over position as he breathed heavily.

"Get Rosalina: she's the first door to the left in the doctor's hallway," Dr. Soloro ordered with a shaky whimper, before whispering what sounded like "Dear God, why is she-" before being violently sick again.

David didn't waste any time to see if Isaac was okay, and instead hurried to the hallway where the nurses and doctors resided. A few of the staff peered out their doors and left their rooms as he approached, and began to filter out to see what was going on as he passed them and banged on the indicated door. It only took a moment for the head nurse to answer, as she opened the door to stand wearily in a blue nightgown. "David?" Tilting her head to one side, she blinked the sleep out of her eyes as she asked, "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry to wake you, but-" A high-pitched female scream came from the hall (indicating one of the other nurses had probably found the corpse), causing David to finish lamely, "there's been an incident."

Rosalina sucked in a sharp breath- the only external sign she gave to show her concern and panic. She brushed past David and out into the hall in a rush of motion, with her bare feet padding along and echoing off the floor with dry thumps. The small crowd of doctors of nurses, some of them in various levels of emotion, parted to let her by as she marched past Soloro, who was leaning against the wall with his face painted a light green hue. David, who had been following behind the nurse, paused beside the shaking doctor as Rosalina slowed to a stop, stared up at the mangled corpse, and then quietly announced, "It's Lyn."

"No!" A young nurse with orange hair let out a gasp and clutched the shoulder of the pink-haired nurse beside her. "I just saw Lyn a few hours ago and she was fine! She's one of the best nurses here, and she was so good with tending to the patients! Who would want to...to..." At this point, the nurse buried her face in her friend's shoulder and bawled, too overcome with emotion to say any more.

"Ana's right," a doctor with black hair in a bowl cut exclaimed. "Who would want to do such a terrible thing to one of our nurses?"

Isaac, who had managed to get a semblance of control over himself, soberly shook his head and looked as if he was going to be sick again, causing David to step back cautiously. This movement caught Dr. Soloro's eye, and he shot a look at the reporter in realization. "I heard someone coming downstairs," he said aloud, "and when I went to investigate I found Mr. Kojima standing here. Do you mind telling us why you were out here this late, Mr. Kojima?"

David felt his blood run cold at the veiled accusation in Soloro's question, but as he was about the respond, Rosalina interrupted him. "He didn't kill her, Isaac." She pointed at the blood on Lyn's uniform and continued, "The blood hasn't had time to dry completely. If he had killed her, he wouldn't have had time to wash the blood off himself, which means he wouldn't be as clean as he is now."

Dr. Soloro looked angrily at Rosalina, but then glanced at the corpse and sighed dejectedly. "You're right," he admitted, "but I half-wished the whole affair could be solved that easily."

_Not to mention you'd wish I'd done it, so you'd have a larger reason to hate me._  David thought silently, but said aloud, "What do we do?"

Rosalina once again seemed ready with an answer. "Someone go fetch a ladder so I can get the body down, and someone else go get a mop and some water so we can clean up all this mess. You, Isaac, can go alert Dr. Main about what has occurred.

The doctor visibly shuddered at the prospect of bringing the bad news to his boss, but nodded and scurried off down the hall as the others watched his departure.

David took this time to turn his attention away from the body in order to clear his mind and understand some questions he had. Slowly stumbling away from the group to move toward the stairs, he couldn't help but wonder if he was to blame for the young nurse's death. The message left by the Raven had been meant to show him not to believe Main's lies, and the Raven had been keen to win him over to his side minutes before he had been told to come down here. Yet, the main question remained: why? Why was being on the Raven's side so important that it would lead to murder? Moreover, how had the crime been committed so quickly if the Raven had been talking to David?

Suddenly, the reporter spotted a small gray object at the foot of the stairs, half-obscured by shadows but still faintly visible in the soft moonlight. He carefully scooped it up for a closer inspection and found it was an oblong cylindrical-shaped rod, with one end flattened into a circle and the other end squared with a triangular notch. It wasn't incredibly heavy, but it did carry some weight, and if he had to guess as to what it was made of, he would have said it was some sort of metal.  _This looks like a key,_  David realized as he turned the object over gently with his thumb.  _So what does it go to, and why is it here on the ground?_  It didn't resemble the keys he had seen on Dr. Soloro the other day, but it also didn't look like a key which sole purpose of creation had been to make a key. It was shabbily constructed as if it was made in a hurry, and numerous dents coated it from someone fumbling it into a lock on more than one occasion. Whatever its purpose, it had evidently been important to someone...and perhaps whoever it belonged to would try to find it again. Could it be that whoever had murdered Lyn had used this somehow? There was only one way to find out. Without drawing attention to himself, David slipped the key into his pocket and tucked this new mystery into the back of his mind.

"Such a tragedy."

David nearly jumped out his skin, but held himself together as he turned to look at Miles, who had appeared silently at his side. His red eyes were fixed on the bloodied form of Lyn, which was about to be taken down by Rosalina, who had been given a ladder tall enough to reach the chandelier. He seemed unusually calm for seeing such a horrific sight, which prompted David to ask, "Pretty shocking, isn't it? I can't believe someone would do something like this."

"I can," Miles replied shortly, not taking his eyes off Lyn. It was almost as if he was transfixed by the sight of her crimson blood spilled everywhere, and his intense gaze was beginning to be unnerving.

"Did you know her?"

"I talked to her a few times: she was the sort who never really opened up to people. Of course, I tend to be the same way, but...well, she kept to herself, but none of the patients or staff had a problem with her. Now look at her...all that blood on her. Shocking how much blood the human body contains- you would think such fragile creatures like ourselves would be made of nothing more than skin and bones, that we couldn't hold that much inside of ourselves." Miles stared for a moment more, and then seemed to snap back to his senses as he lazily turned his head and remarked dryly, "Here comes Soloro."

There came from sound of a light thump at that moment, as if someone had struck the floor with a wooden object. All of the conversational babble died off as Isaac emerged from Main's hallway, and walked slowly besides a figure David couldn't make out in the darkness. While the young doctor stepped into the light of the moon that passed through the windows, the person accompanying him stayed on the fringes of the shadows, causing the noise (which David realized was the sound of a cane smacking the ground) to cease. It didn't take a whole lot of thinking to realize that this hidden figure was Dr. Main, who seemed to have come out from hiding in his office to investigate what was going on. As if the Master could read David's thoughts, the voice of Dr. Main cut through the silence. "What happened here?"

"We don't know yet, sir," Rosalina answered soberly from her position on the ladder. "It looks to me as if she was already dead before she was hung, probably due to the extent of her...injuries. It will take some time before we can be sure as to what killed-"

"Check her pockets." The growled command was nearly barked out by Main. "I want to see something."

The blonde nurse looked dubious, but didn't question the orders as she reached for Lyn's pockets on the side of the uniform. As she jostled the corpse on accident (nearly upsetting her precarious balance), a small piece of paper dislodged itself from her stained uniform and fluttered end over end to the floor, where it came to a delicate rest in the light. Although it was a little smaller than David's thumb, he could still make out the inked message that had been plainly written in blood, which shone eerily for those close enough to read it.

_Your move, Main_

Nobody said a word, as every eye focused on anything they could but Dr. Main. "So," Main wheezed coldly, "You want to play your little games? Well then, consider me your opponent." The figure of Dr. Main stuck out a single hand dressed in a pale white glove, and plucked the paper up to deliver it back into shadow. "Soloro, Rosalina, learn what caused this young woman's death and come to me when you have the results. Give her a proper funeral as well- bury her somewhere where she won't be disturbed. Miles, come with me: there's something we need to discuss. The rest of you, go about your business as usual. Do not let the patients know what occurred here, since it will only agitate them. We will get to the bottom of this, I promise: Lyn's terrible murder will not go unsolved or unpunished. Someone  _will_ pay for this senseless act." Main began to shuffle back down the hall as Miles came to trail behind him like a tall ghost, but added as an afterthought, " Soloro...get this mess and yourself cleaned up," and then walked off to his office, clanking his cane as he moved. The staff remained frozen until the sound of the office doors being slammed shut echoed through the Mansion. Then they snapped back into quiet conversations and scattered away like frightened mice to their rooms.

David watched the office doors for a moment longer, and was about to go as well when Rosalina called his name. She had carefully clambered down the ladder, and avoided the messes on the floor as she approached him. He couldn't help but noticed that her pale hands were stained red with Lyn's blood, but she paid no regard to it as her blue eyes bored into him. "I know you didn't kill Lyn," she murmured calmly as she quickly glanced at Isaac, who was too occupied in mopping up his bile to pay any attention to their conversation, "but Dr. Soloro found you by the body. You were at the scene of the crime, and that will instill suspicion in many here. Tell me, why were you out of your room tonight and down here when?"

With some slight hesitation, David answered, "I was writing earlier in my room-"

"In the dark? You were able to see without any light?"

"I meant I had been writing earlier when there was still light, but I think I fell asleep, because when I woke up it was dark." The rest of the lie slipped nimbly off of David's tongue as he continues, "Anyways, I woke up because I heard what sounded like someone moving around outside my room, but when I went to take a look there was no one there. My curiosity kind of took control from there, so I went downstairs to see if someone was down there and..."

Trailing off, David felt guilty for lying to the nurse, but knew he couldn't mention his conversation with the Raven to her. It wasn't as if he didn't trust her, but she was working for Main, a man who up until now had told David that the Raven didn't exist. If he told her anything, Main could get wind of it...and that path only led to trouble.

Luckily, she seemed to believe him, as she simply remarked, "I see. Did you realize you're not wearing your glasses?"

She was right: in his haste to see what was happening, he had forgotten to put them on, which explained why everything was a little hard to see. Sheepishly, he grumbled, "I suppose I was distracted by what I thought I heard and forgot to put them on."

"Ah. Well then, go ahead back to your room. There's nothing more to investigate here- Dr. Soloro and I will take care of everything. There's nothing to worry about either: like Dr. Main said, we'll find out whoever did this...this horrible thing to Lyn."

"I thought you guys would let the police handle this."

Rosalina smirked. "They don't come here anymore, due to the superstition of the island and the Mansion. Here, we must find our own justice." Shaking her head in remorse, Rosalina drifted away like a forlorn spirit, while David (evading the suspicious glare of Soloro) trudged back up the stairs and eventually into his room. The room welcomed his return with darkness, but all David could see was Lyn's bloodied face, and the dark red words smeared across her uniform that had become etched into his mind. The blood that he had wiped from his forehead still lingered on his fingers, and as he moved to the sink and turned the water on, he came to the realization that his hands were shaking. They wouldn't stop, even when he clenched them into fists, and soon his knees felt like putty. He quickly turned off the water and sat on the edge of his cot to avoid falling and hurting himself, as the terrible images from the night raced through his mind at breakneck speeds. Heaving deep breaths in order to calm his rattled nerves, David stared down at his shaking hands and repeated over and over to himself the one question that he had avoided since his arrival at the Mansion: "What have I gotten myself into?"

* * *

"Are you even listening?"

Gann's thunderous question slashed through David's thoughts like a sword, causing him to look up at the giant and Sam hovering over his position on the sunroom couch. "What?"

"He wanted to know why you seem so out of everything," Sam answered as she flopped down onto the couch, her face filled with confused concern. "You know, Steve, you don't look so good. Are you coming down with something? If you are, don't breathe on me: I don't want to get it."

"I...just have a lot on my mind," David replied. This was true: ever since he had returned to his room last night, troubling things had managed to find him. Once again, that night he had dreamed of fighting, only this time every enemy he faced was a screaming Lyn corpse with eyes like Miles', which melted into blood that burned like a fiery brew. It had made for a fitful sleep, and he had awakened in the morning with his head in an exhausted fog. As he had stumbled down the stairs, he had been greeted by the sight of Miles slipping out the front door, with a large burlap sack thrown over his shoulder. The man had not seen David and had left before the reporter could greet him, which wasn't odd but still filled David with a sense of suspicion. There was nothing to do outside the Mansion's walls, and it couldn't be that the cook was headed for the mainland, since the boat wouldn't be returning for another four weeks. So where was he heading, and what was he carrying? Usually David would leave such things be, but after the mysterious murder of Lyn, everything was now up for speculation.

"That's understandable," Gann conceded as he took a seat and pressed the tips of his meaty fingers together. "After the turmoil of last night, any person would have a multitude of things to think about."

The words almost flew over David's head as being unimportant, but he caught their meaning. "Wait, how do you know about last night?"

This time Sam laughed to herself and spoke up to say, "It's not hard to know something went down: the doctors and nurses are all jumpy, and they tried to stuff us with twice the usual dosage-"

"Which still doesn't work," Gann interrupted, earning him a smack on the arm from Sam.

"Quiet you, I'm talking! Anyways, you find out stuff sooner or later here, Steve, whether it's told by Main, the staff, or by the Raven."

The last subject sent an icy chill down David's spine. "The Raven?"

"That's what I said, isn't it? The Raven always wants to send a message to Main that his control is slipping, but Main just ignores it time and time again."

"Until now, that is," clarified Gann. "Now that the Raven has struck at Main, Main has struck back."

David gave the giant a confused glance, and was unsure if the man was being truthful or was speaking in drug-induced riddles. "Struck back?"

The dark eyes of the giant held David's attention as he rumbled, "You're a reporter with an eye for details- certainly by now you've noticed that there's more than a nurse missing from the occupants of this room."

Craning his neck and scanning the room, David looked around at everything he could see before he finally found the anomaly. Gesturing with the pencil he held in his hand, he pointed it out to the two patients. "There. On the couch over there, next to the guy with the mustache. Yesterday, there was a woman beside him- his girlfriend, I think- but now she's not there, and she's not anywhere in the rest of the room."

"Oh man, Steve's right." Sam uttered a curse under her breath, and then told Gann, "She's not there."

"I can see that, Samantha."

"Don't call me that."

Confused, David wondered aloud, "Where is she?"

Sam and Gann averted their gaze from the reporter, until Sam murmured, "Main believes in using an 'eye-for-an-eye' approach when it comes to dealing justice. Looks like the only way to get back at the Raven was...well..."

The sight of Miles slipping out the front door suddenly made sickening sense, and quickly cleared up the question as to the contents of his bag. A feeling of queasiness welled up in the bottom of David's stomach as he incredulously hissed, "You mean he had her _killed_?!"

"Without a doubt."

"He can't...that's not...I need to talk to him about this."

David moved to stand up, but Sam and Gann both gave short cries and yanked him back down again onto the couch. "Steve! What the hell are you doing- sit down!" Sam shot a look to the corner of the room, where Dr. Soloro was writing on his clipboard before quietly exclaiming, "are you out of your mind?! You can't go to Main!"

"It's not right though," David muttered. "That woman had nothing to do with what went on. How can the head of an asylum do this? How is taking an innocent life right?"

"You could say the same thing of the Raven," Gann cut in with a sigh. "It boils down to a simple truth: he does it because he can, and because he wants control. Main has always been the jury, judge, and executioner of the Mansion, and now he must wage war against someone who threatens his control. Casualties are expected, and people are going to be used as pawns, mark my words. In something like this, the only rule is that if an opponent hits you, you hit them right back just as hard."

Shaking his head, David stared at the couch where Mario sat alone. "It doesn't seem right."

"It isn't, but there's nothing we can do about it. Who are we to interfere in something beyond our control?"

"So what  _do_  we do then?"

"Easy: believe everything, trust nothing, obey all. All one has to do is buy their time." The giant moved on of his black checkers to skip over one of David's which was removed from the board and placed beside Gann. "The Raven has made his first move, and Main has responded in turn. Now we just have to wait until the opportunity to act against Main arises. Yes, the waiting will require sacrifice, but patience will be rewarded in the end. Like the saying goes, good things always come to those who wait."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a little known fact, but I've partly based the mood and style of each chapter off of music I've been listening to while writing and/or thinking. Chapter One, for example, is based to the song 'Sail', by AWOLNation, which is raw and powerful and seems to convey the uncertainty and strangeness of David's arrival at the Mansion, along with the song "Home by the Sea", which reflects the story's overall theme. 'The Rifle's Spiral' by The Shins helped form Chapter Two, and the title of Chapter Three, "The Grand Illusion", came from the song by Styx. Chapter Four was originally going to be called "Force Ten", after the Rush song that inspired its mood, but I changed it at the last minute. This chapter, which borrows its title from the lyrics of "Force Ten", was actually inspired by listening to "The Confessor" by Joe Walsh for several days on end. If you have the time (and YouTube), you should give these five a listen, although they don't have to be read with the story itself. It just goes to show how much music can affect someone's writing and what they produce after listening to certain songs.


	6. A Game of Truth

Chapter Six: A Game of Truth

The next few days seemed to blur together for David, as the realization that he was stuck at the Mansion for less than a month finally began to settle in. Things had quieted down after the sudden murder (possibly at the hands of the Raven), and while no events had occurred since then, taunt tension still hung in every nook and cranny of the old house. No messages came from either Dr. Main or the Raven, which was a dual gift of both relief and suspicion for David. If both parties were so intent to fight each other (and want David on their side for whatever reason), why were they both suddenly silent? Maybe each had backed down for a time in order to lick their wounds and assess the state of their plans, or perhaps by deposing of Peach, Main had ultimately killed the Raven. David found that theory hard to believe however: Peach had never seen to exhibit any characteristics that could identify her as the Raven...but maybe that made her the perfect candidate to bring down the system set up carefully by Main. Whatever the reason, there had been nothing of interest, and it didn't look like there would be for quite a while.

One good thing had come from the lull in activity: David had made progress on his article. It had become almost routine for him to come into the sunroom, sit, and write pages of notes and journal entries from a spot on the ragged old couch. From there he had a view of nearly all the patients (which were usually too drugged to pay him any notice), allowing him to see all the going ons that went on. Surprisingly, Sam and Gannon had taken an interest in the reporter, and regularly sat beside him to chatter along as they faced off against each other (and occasionally David) in a game of checkers. David had learned to easily beat Sam at the game (most of the time), but neither of them had yet to beat the red-haired giant. Yet for all their fun, these games also was where David was told the stories of some of the Mansion's patients, and the reason they had been out here. These stories ranged from the absurd (such as a talented singer who had killed her sleeping manager after a show) to the horrific (a brother and sister who beat and killed their parents while on a mountain hike), to the just plain unbelievable (a boy and his friend who set their house on fire and ultimately led to the death of the one boy's mother). Each one shocked and appalled David (although Sam loudly claimed them all to be lies), and only fueled his curiosity further than ever before. If he was determined to learn more about the place that his story and investigation focused on, then every minute detail was needed in order to capture the mystery of the place as a whole.

On the fifth or sixth day of his stay, David was asked by Rosalina to assist her with the burial of Lyn. He had helped her lift and carry the simple wooden box that doubled as a coffin outside, where the cold wind ripped at his face and numbed the tips of his ears. Winter hung like a warning in the air, with its chill an ominous promise of colder times to come. Even the low-floating gray clouds seemed ready to break open with snow. Adjusting his grip on the bottom of the coffin, he asked the nurse, "Is it always this cold around here?"

"Oh, this is warm compared to the temperatures we usually get this time of year. We have mild winters here due to the warmth that comes off the ocean," she replied as she maneuvered the other end of the coffin. "It will get colder in the coming days, and the ground will be too hard to dig then. That's why Dr. Soloro and I had to work quickly, so we could bury Lyn before the frost came."

"I'm surprised Isaac hasn't come to help us."

"Isaac doesn't enjoy being around the dead, as you saw the other night. It's the one thing he just cannot get over as a doctor- he was getting better at dealing with it, but this entire event has shaken him up."

"Well, I can't blame him for being shaken up- any person would be in a situation like that. Did you figure out how she died?"

"Yes. Lyn was tortured and had her eyes removed before she died. Ultimately she was killed by someone slitting her throat...but she suffered before that."

There was an edge to the nurse's voice that David had not heard before, an edge that was angry, bitter, and grief-stricken at the same time. It was even more chilling than the surrounding air, and David couldn't help but shiver at the gruesome revelation. "That's awful. Do you or Dr. Soloro know who did that to her?"

Rosalina came to a stop upon a hilltop overlooking the rough dark ocean, where the roar of crashing waves drowned out all thoughts. She and David gently placed the coffin beside a freshly dug hole, while the nurse turned to watch the waters with her pale hair blown back by the breeze. "The laws and morals that make up life on the mainland do not exist here," she spoke quietly, her words almost lost to the pull of the gusting winds. "Here, things work differently, because the people here are a little different. Something like this though...it shows the struggle going on, the struggle each and every one of us faces every day."

"The struggle between Main and the Raven?"

"No: the struggle between madness and sanity. It's a delicate division, and thin enough that it's sometimes hard to decide which side you fall on. Are we sane because we can think and feel clearly, and care for those who cannot? Or are  _we_  the mad ones here, locked away for our own good?"

The thought had crossed David's mind before, but he had never given it much thought until now. "What do you believe? Are we truly sane or not?"

"No one is truly sane, Mr. Kojima: we all have the capability to do things that break the perception of sanity, or shatter the image we have of ourselves." The woman brushed her hand over the coffin lid in thought, as she continued, "To answer your question as to who could have done something like this, I think any one of us could have. We all have the capability to do it, after all...the question is, if given the chance, which of us would take it?"

The two fell silent as David and Rosalina moved the coffin into the hole, and David picked up a metallic shovel that had been already laid out and began to deposit dirt atop the coffin lid. It didn't take too long before there was no sign that the hill had been disturbed, until Rosalina placed a small gravestone over the spot and said a quiet prayer. David moved to stand solemnly as she prayed, but his attention was focused after a while on something he had failed to notice before: three gravestones, all identical, lined up neatly in a row just a few feet away.

Noticing his glance as she finished her soft prayer, Rosalina seemed to read his thoughts. "Those are the graves of old residents of ours. All three of them passed before you came here."

The three initials-DM, YL, and PC- were unfamiliar, but David did note that Peach's name was absent from any of the gravestones, a fact he kept to himself. There was no point in bringing up the conflict going on- especially when they had just buried one of the casualties. Instead, he muttered, "I never realized this place could be so dangerous."

"It's only dangerous," the nurse replied as she began to drift back to the asylum, "if you let yourself be caught in the crossfire."

* * *

Sam moved another checker over David's, and let out a laugh as she removed it from the board. "Ha! I win again!"

Removing his glasses for a split second, David rubbed at his eyes with a faint smile. "You sure did- although I'm pretty positive that move's not allowed in checkers."

"It is when I play!" The blonde woman crossed her arms and gave the reporter a look as she stuck out her tongue. " _You_  just need more practice."

"Isn't a week plenty of practice?"

"Yeah, if you're playing someone like DK," Sam grinned as she pointed out a large, gorilla-like man with an enormous amount of brown facial hair. "If you want to beat someone like, say, Ness or Cario or Gann, then you'll need to work on your game."

The absence of the giant checkers-playing man was unusual since he had been present every time David had been in the sunroom. "Speaking of Gann, where exactly is he?"

"Medical room," came the reply. "Soloro finally figured out the dosage was too low, so now they're upping it for him."

"Won't that make him...you know, drooly and all zoned out?"

" Nah, Gann's too clever. He'll act as though the lowest dosage they can give him will be just enough to keep him drooly, so he'll be right as rain when they aren't looking. Well, maybe he'll be more serious, but otherwise he's going to be fine!"

David had kept in mind Main's warnings about the patients, but so far, they hadn't matched up with what he had seen. Sam in particular was a puzzle: she has appeared completely insane when he had first met her, but soon he had grown to know her as a clever and independent individual who had threads of madness woven through her otherwise-normal character. It was the opposite of everything he had expected...but it felt completely normal the longer he stayed.

"Greetings, Mr. Kojima, and Miss Aran."

A familiar velvety voice spoke, causing David and Sam to look up and see Zelda standing before them, looking regal in her blue pajamas. Her eyes, although clear, seemed to be veiled in order to hide her emotions, giving her a cold and calculating look. It made David nervous to be caught in her gaze, as if he were a mouse quivering before the path of a hungry owl.

Sam didn't seem to mind and stared back at Zelda with a level gaze. "Hey Zelda. I haven't spoken with you in a while."

"You certainly haven't, Samus." Seeing the look of surprise in the blonde's eyes, Zelda twitched her mouth into the shape of a smile. "I wish to play against you in a game of checkers. Are you up for the challenge?"

"You know, you're one of the few people here that calls me Samus...yes, I'll play. If you don't mind, I'll play as red."

"The blood of angered men," Zelda murmured as Sam moved to sit next to David (who obligingly scooted over), and Zelda took the now-empty spot on the ottoman. "I'm surprised you didn't pick black though-you've willingly given me the advantage of going first. Coal comes before fire, after all."

"Gann always picks black when he plays, so I've gotten used to playing as red."

The delicate grin slipped from the brunette's face as her fingers hovered over a solitary checker. "I see," she remarked in a voice dead and sour. "How fitting that is."

"I guess it is. You guys don't talk anymore, but you should play each other- it would be a good match to watch."

"I don't associate with him anymore."

"Why not?" David asked out of curiosity. Sure, the giant man was imposing, but he had seemed friendly enough whenever David had spoken to him.

With a look that could break a man in two, Zelda icily replied, "There were...incidents in our pasts that I have not forgotten."

As Zelda moved her chosen checker and started the game, Sam gave her opponent a look of unbelieving amusement. "You mean you still haven't gotten over that one time?"

"That one time destroyed my life, Samus!" The brunette suddenly hissed angrily. "It's all his fault! He's the one who kidnapped me from my home and held me hostage! He's the one who tried to...to do terrible things, things that nearly drove me to madness. If it wasn't for my best friend Link, I would have lost my mind or worse." She took a second to compose herself and turn to look at a blond-haired young man sitting nearby in a daze, then quietly finished, "Don't act as though I don't have scars from that experience, or that you don't understand tragedy and horror. We both know that our pasts are equally dark Link, Gann and I all ultimately were labeled mad for our actions anyway."

David was silent and wide-eyed as he watched the two women stare each other down, until Sam let out a clipped laugh and moved her checker. "You were labeled mad  _here,_  you mean."

With a ragged chuckle that seemed to wipe away the previous conversation, Zelda replied, "Very true. I'm surprised you still hang on to that belief Samus-it's a hard line to walk, and even harder on the mind. We've all been broken by it, after all, but still you trudge on."

Suddenly, it occurred to David that whatever was about to be discussed was not about checkers, as Sam leaned forward and fixed Zelda with another cold look. "If that's the case, what do you believe?"

"Simple: I believe in the truth."

"You and I both know it's not as simple as that, especially when the truth is hidden in lies."

Sensing an opportunity, Zelda skipped over one of Sam's checkers and removed it primly from the board. "Ah, but it  _is_ simple. None of us should be here in my opinion: it's not right that we are."

"So...you support the Raven then?"

"I do."

"Huh. Okay then, answer me this: say the Raven brought down Main. What would happen then? The staff would still be on Main's side after all."

"The Raven speaks the truth, as you obviously know. No one can resist the truth."

"So then why hasn't the Raven acted before?"

"There's a new variable to consider."

David realized Zelda and Sam were now staring at him in contemplation, as Sam muttered, "Damn, I forgot about Steve. No wonder he looks familiar..."

"Hang on a second," David held up a hand in surprise. "I can't be familiar to you- I've never been here before in my life!"

"Just because you haven't been here before doesn't mean we haven't recognized you from somewhere, Mr. Kojima," answered the brunette, who returned her attention to Sam. "However, regardless of the reporter's presence, I do think both sides make compelling arguments. Main certainly has the evidence to back up his claims, after all."

"Yeah, but the evidence makes sense only if you take the drugs," Sam muttered. "Zelda, if you think Main could be right, then why do you decide not to take his drugs?"

"The same reason you and the others choose not to: because I don't want to forget. I find it ironic actually that you choose not to take them. Like I said before, anyone with your...history would probably jump at the chance to wash away thoughts that hurt the mind and deem one insane."

The blonde woman was silent, and David noted that she had clenched her hands into fist that were so tight, that it caused the knuckles to turn white. Whatever Zelda was referring to had obviously struck a nerve.

"Let me ask  _you_  something, Zelda." A red checker was slammed down into an open space on the board, as the black one it had passed over was snatched away. "If you had thought in your head that you believed were real- thoughts and memories of something terrible, that you had thought you had shoved to the back of your mind- and one day someone told you that they were all lies, and that your real life was even worse than what you thought...which would you believe? Would you believe the memories in your head were really lies, and replace them with something equally dark? On the other hand, would you cling to your memories and fight off those who tried to take them away from you? Two lives, two very different experiences, and no way to tell which is real and which is false..." Sam slapped down her fist on the board, sending checkers flying in every direction as she kept the tears from spilling down her face. "I choose not to take the damn drugs because I want to believe I am nothing like what they say I am here. I want to hold on to the hope that I am sane, and that we are all surrounded by a madness we created to explain what has happened to us. Man tells us we have been terrible people in order to get ourselves sent here, but when I look at us, I don't see mental patients- I see heroes, fighters, lovers, and friends. I see real people with lives and stories that some consider legendary, and I want to believe that my memories of these patients are true, because that would make me a hero too. That's why I palm my drugs. That's why I take every beating and punishment Main gives me. That's why I rebel and refuse to believe him, not because I want to believe one thing over another, but because I want to cling to the belief that I am something greater than what I've been reduced to."

Neither Zelda nor David spoke, earning themselves a grunt from Sam as she rose and stormed away without another word. A long silence hung in the air around the reporter, with only the echoes of the words spoken moments before filling the void. It didn't take long before David found the voice to ask, "Is she okay?"

Zelda responded with a sigh. "Samus- or Sam, as you probably know her- is one of the few people I know who will never take the easy way out of anything. She is too proud and stubborn to give in, even when the odds are stacked against her. Her downfall, however, is that she believes so strongly in one idea that it consumes her, tainting her memories and erasing things she should recall. I'm afraid in time she'll forget things that one day might be important."

"But..." David wanted to say, "She's crazy, like the rest of you," but couldn't bring himself to say the words. Rosalina's earlier remark came to mind as he sat there and stared out the window. Were her words about everyone being sane true, or were they all secretly insane?

"I told you once before that if you want to know the answers, then you must be prepared for what they contain," said the brunette as she gathered up the checkers and set them back up gently on the board. "Yet, like us, you have to decide what is truth and what is a lie. Tell me something, David: have you always lived on the mainland?"

"Yes?"

"How long can you remember living there?"

"I'm...not sure. My memory's always been pretty rough, but I know I've lived on the mainland for a long time. I feel like it's been forever."

"Interesting-have you been sleeping well? You seem tired."

Flashes of his recent disturbing dreams flew through his head. "No, I haven't been sleeping that great."

"...Do you believe the Raven speaks the truth?"

By the way this question was thrown out, it was obvious that the answer was the most important one so far. Such a simple question, but one with an answer that David knew would send him down one of two paths. Did he really believe in the Raven? Its existence was hard to argue against, but to say that the Raven was truthful and Main was therefore a liar...well, it seemed a little crazy.

_Then again, isn't everyone a little crazy?_

So David looked Zelda in the eye and simply answered, "Yes."

Letting out a breath Zelda seemed to be pleased with his response. "Then be prepared, David Kojima: there isn't much time left. You're already caught in the crossfire."

* * *

_You're already caught in the crossfire..._

David found it impossible to banish the ominous words from his thoughts as he slowly made his way up the rickety staircase that evening. It was all he needed to confirm a fact he had dreaded: he was in over his head. Any attempt at crafting together a simple story was now out of the question. Main, the Raven, the patients, even Miles had led him to believe that something more was going on here, much more than anything he would expect for a simple news story.

Then again, he had never set out to write a simple news story in the first place.

As a reporter, David had followed his curiosity and his drive for knowledge to wherever it pointed in the past. While it had led him to many interesting tales, it always seemed like there was one thing that was out on the horizon...and now it seemed as though the Mansion and its tale was that thing. What exactly had he stumbled upon? The answer always seemed clear, but then it would move just out of reach and into the shadows of uncertainty. David's curiosity told him to find the answer though, using whatever means he could. There was no way to ignore that call- he was already in over his head, and the only option at this point was to dig deeper.

Making his way to his door, David pulled out a simple iron key- the same one Isaac had used to open his door on the day of his arrival, a day that felt like it had been so long ago. Rosalina had given it to him when they had returned to the Mansion after Lyn's burial, with the explanation that "The doors are all being locked after the patients go to sleep, so we don't have any more...problems." The key would be the only way someone could get in or out of his room, and David had realized that without the key, Main would be able to lock him in every night and prevent him from leaving. The reporter hadn't questioned if Rosalina had procured the key with Main and Soloro's permission or knowledge, but was grateful she was at least looking out for him.

While withdrawing the key from his pocket, his fingers brushed up against the strange object he had found by the stairs the night of Lyn's murder.  _Crap, I forgot about that weird thing,_ he thought to himself as he unlocked his door.  _Maybe I'll be able to get a better look at it tomorrow- it could be more important than I thought._

With a tired sigh, David opened his door and stepped into the room, turning around to shut it and cast everything back into shadows as he locked it from the inside as a safety precaution. Suddenly, he froze as he heard the slightest shift of movement. His mind had been too occupied with thought to make the connection before, but now in the quiet nighttime he realized that when he had opened the door, something inside the room had  _moved._

Which meant only one thing: someone else was in the room.

David sucked in a breath and moved to turn around, but he was too slow. Whoever was there in the room struck with a heavy blow to the back of David's head, and the reporter felt himself crumple to the ground as a curtain of unconsciousness smashed down upon him and his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I mentioned music last chapter influencing writing, the first half of this chapter was written while listening to "The Rifle's Spiral" by The Shins, and "Letters From the Sky" by Civil Twilight. The second half was written with "Mama" by Genesis (note: don't listen to this song unless you want Phil Collins' creepy laugh stuck in your head for hours) and "The Anarchist" by Rush. Strange mix this time around, but I think it fits nicely.


	7. The Starling Court

Chapter Seven: The Starling Court

"Wake him up."

Something bone-chillingly cold poured over David's head, yanking him back from the world of unconsciousness with a gasp. Everything around him was pitch black, but he knew his eyes were open, and concluded quickly that he was wearing a hood of some sort to obstruct his vision. He could tell that he was sitting on an unsmooth surface (as part of it dug into his leg), and his wrists were bound painfully behind his back with what felt like rope. The air around him was chilly, and he could feel a light wind on the back of his neck, making him shiver at the cold. Disoriented, he struggled to remember how he had ended up in this situation, but all he could remember was a sudden movement and a blow that knocked him cold. So who had attacked him? With a groan, he roughly asked himself aloud, "What the hell is going on?"

"Greetings, David Kojima."

A voice- deep and unfamiliar- echoed through wherever David was, slipping its way through the hood to his ears. The reporter whipped his head around, but couldn't see or pinpoint where the voice had come from. "What's going on?! Where am I?"

"At ease, Mr. Kojima. You are merely safe here from prying eyes and ears. No harm will come to you," came the answer. "Certain precautions had to be taken to make sure you'd cooperate."

"Cooperate? Cooperate with what?" David had a sudden revelation at that moment, which caused him to stop thrashing about. "Are you...the Raven?"

There was a pause. "I serve the Raven, and act in the name of the Raven," the voice answered slowly, "but I do not have the honor of being the Raven. Yet, the identity of the Raven is not the reason why you are here."

"Fine. Why am I here then?"

Suddenly a new voice- lighter and softer than the first- rang out. "We are here to discuss  _you_ , Mr. Kojima, and your role on the island.

" _Me_?" Trying to turn his head to find where the new voice was coming from, David frantically remarked, "I'm just a reporter! I swear, I'm not involved in anything- I'm just a guy trying to get a story!"

"The Raven believes you are much more. Our job is to see if you truly are of the value you've been placed under," the first voice rumbled. "If you truthfully answer the question we have, then we shall tell you an answer you currently seek."

At this, a small chorus of low murmurs spread through the space, as another new voice asked cautiously, "Is that a wise idea? Mr. Kojima's allegiances are still in question- Main still has a grasp over him. We don't want to make the same mistake as we did before."

"He doesn't trust Main," someone else hissed. "Plus, he said today he believed in the Raven- I heard him say it out loud!"

This part was true, but the only place David remembered saying that was in the sunroom.  _Wait a minute_ , he thought _, these people can't be patients, can they? How did they get out of their rooms? It's impossible!_  Although cautious, his curiosity was yelling at him to learn more about what was going on...and it was impossible to deny his curiosity, especially when an opportunity like this was before him. "It's a deal," he finally announced, causing the various voices to fall silent. "I'll cooperate."

His answer must have been a surprise to the voices, for it took them what felt like forever to respond. "You are wise to do so. Remove his hood- I am assured we can trust him."

Someone must have been standing behind David, for the hood was suddenly yanked off of his head, exposing the surroundings for the first time. The first thing he noticed was the ceiling of black stone above his head, which was scattered with pointed spires of rock that reached toward the stone ground. The sound of the ocean crashing against the island could be faintly heard, and the smell of wet salty air clung in the underground space. It was barely illuminated by a handful of flickering torches bolted to the wall, whose movements sent light scattering over every nook and cranny in the rocks. "I didn't know there were caves on the island," David heard himself say.

"A few pockets once existed under the Mansion, but some collapsed a few years back. This is the only one which still stands, and it remains a secret."

The reporter turned to gaze at what was in front of him, where a strange sight met his eyes. A group of seven people seated at a long slab of rock on a raised makeshift platform, with two torches at either end giving them enough light to be seen. They were dressed in black robes that made it impossible to distinguish their features, making them look all the same except for their varying height and sizes. Their faces were obscured by black hoods attached to their robes, which dipped down to a point like wings over their brows. Not being able to see their faces made David nervous, and for a moment he wondered why the Raven went to all this trouble to take down a simple doctor. He could feel their eyes on him, burning from underneath their shadowed hoods, so he spoke again after swallowing back his fear. "Who are you?"

The first voice filtered out from the tallest figure in the middle of the table, who raised his (the voice was too low to be female) arms out in a wide sweeping gesture. "We call ourselves the Starling Court, and as stated before, we are the allies of the Raven and the enemies of Main. Our belief is that the Raven is the truth, and we speak on the Raven's behalf in order to keep the identity of the Raven a secret."

"Enough of the explanations," a voice sharply ordered from another figure on the right. "We are the ones who should be seeking out answers, after all."

A few figures nodded in agreement with the statement, making the center figure sigh. "Very well. Let us bring the Court to order."

The figures fell silent as David felt his nervousness return, noting how ominous the Court looked at that moment, with the little light casting most of them into a smoky darkness. It took a moment before one of them asked in a watery voice, "Will you please state your name?"

"David Kojima."

"Where were you born, Mr. Kojima?"

"On the mainland- I've lived there my whole life."

A new question was thrown at David. "Are you an only child?"

"Yes...wait, no. I had a brother- a twin brother- but he died at birth. I never knew him."

"I am sorry to hear that. Tell us about your childhood. What do you remember about growing up?"

David struggled to remember this part of his life. "It's been a while, so I don't remember anything really. My mother died when I was young though, and I never knew my father- he left before I was born."

"So you grew up in an orphanage?"

"I think so. Like I said, my memory's a bit fuzzy."

"What do you remember about your life then?"

"Well, I remember a few months ago when I went to a bar, and heard some guy talking about an island out in the sea, where there was apparently a mental asylum. That's when I began to research the place for my story."

"I see." The center figure asked a question this time. "Have you ever had any military training?"

"No?"

"Have you ever worked with or memorized codes at any point?"

"No- why do you ask?"

"I find that hard to believe, Mr. Kojima. Are you sure you never had any training at any point in your life?"

"Yes, I'm sure of-"

Suddenly, scenes flashed at rapid paces through David's mind: snow, a cold wind creeping under the edge of his skintight suit laden with weaponry, as he peered around the corner of a building with his gun drawn, aiming at a man on the far side of a courtyard...

With a hissed curse, David snapped out of the vision as he jerked his head back in surprise, breathing heavily as he tried to calm his racing heart. What had just happened? He had never done anything like that in his life, but it had felt so  _real_ , like a memory.

The Starling Court watched him without a word, until a figure sitting on the left shook its head in amazement. "I believe we might have just seen our answer."

"He's buried them in his mind, or they've been buried for him," mused the center figure. "They must be buried deep too, on account of his memory."

"There is some bleed through though- certain details, but none of them are enough to expose the rest."

"It seems that being here must have triggered their coming to light. This will complicate things."

Having paid little attention to the conversation of the Court, David now took the time to, while still breathing heavily, ask a question. "What was that- what's happening to me?"

If the figures heard him they chose to not answer and remarked instead, "Please try to stay with us, Mr. Kojima. You've done very well so far."

"Very well with what? What the hell is even going on here- you've kidnapped me, you've tied me up, and now you're asking me ridiculous questions!" Whatever patience David had was wearing thin at this point, as he struggled in his bonds. "Tell me what's going on here!"

"Mr. Kojima-"

"TELL ME!"

The screams bounced off the cavern walls, causing the Starling Court to freeze in uncertainty. They avoided looking at David's seething figure and instead focused in the center figure, which shook his hood sadly. "Very well. We will explain why we are doing this." Hearing an outburst of alarm form some of the Court members, the figure quickly added "He deserves to know at least what the Raven believes. Remember the last time we withheld our truth, and the consequences."

This seemed to placate the other members, so the center figure leaned back and relaxed as he began to talk to David. "It probably has never crossed your mind that something is wrong with you. After all, you dismiss the fact that you can't remember most of your life as being a consequence of age. It is a paradox in a way: the one who seeks the answers ignores the questions being asked, or the answers that lie within him go unnoticed.

'The memories you have of your life here are missing- don't you find it strange? Do you not find it unusual that you have never known any codes, but yet you are able to understand and reply to the Raven's messages? Have you experienced dreams as of late that are incredibly realistic, but feel as natural as memories to you? There is a reason for these things, Mr. Kojima. These dreams, these talents- they are  _real,_ not just a creation of your mind. These are real memories, because they are from your real life, not this lie that you have bought into. The Raven and most of the Mansion's patients share this belief, that our lives are not what we think they are, and that something happened to remove us from those lives. Some of us remember what you remember- memories, dreams, skills we had- but no one can remember the reason why we have been brought to this state.

'Main knows, however. He covers it up with drugs and pleas of insanity, calling our thoughts that of madmen and our dreams impossible. He prevents us from being together, least we discover the truth, but we find ways through the use of skeleton keys and secret passages. Our memories, no matter how buried they are, speak the truth, and it is in pursuit of the truth that we act."

Silence settled in comfortably during this talk, and continued afterwards once the center figure had finished speaking. David stared, blinked once, and without any sort of emotion announced, "...Bullshit."

"You know it to be true, David Kojima. What other explanation could there be? The answer is the right one, because there is proof- your dreams, your use of the code, your remembrance of things that you shouldn't know. At one point, David,  _you were one of us,_ and although our memories have been muddied by drugs, some of us still remember you."

There had been times when patients had seemed to recognize him, David knew that. Yet the rest of the Court's explanation...it was impossible to believe. "So you're saying that I'm not a reporter, and that somewhere else I was some sort of...soldier?"

"Indeed. I cannot recall the nature of your life, but you are familiar to me. You fought for your friends and your country, and put honor above all else."

"So the Raven believes all the patients come from...another world?" David let out a laugh of shock. "That's crazy!"

"Yet your answers confirm for us that the theory is true. We are not mad, Mr. Kojima, and if we are, then everyone else is mad as well. You may not understand us now, but surely you know that the Mansion is not all it appears to be."

"He knows," grumbled a short figure. "He found the key after all on the night we struck out at Main. It's why one of our members is not up here with us- he had to borrow another's key to get into Mr. Kojima's room."

"We removed the key, so now it is where it properly belongs." The center figure cocked his head to the side, like an inquisitive bird. "You must understand the risk we have taken bringing you here and telling you this, Mr. Kojima. The last time we tried to do so, there were...disastrous consequences. Even if you don't believe us, keep our meeting here a secret, even from the blonde nurse you converse with frequently."

A redness crept over the reporter's face as the members of the Court rose from their places, throwing multiple shadows over the walls. "You may question our motives now, but in time we hope you will have your memories returned and see the truth we tell you, and know what to do."

"What to do?" Sensing an end to the meeting, David frantically began asking questions. "Wait, who is the Raven? Why are you going after Main? How come you have to keep it all a secret?"

"Not all can be revealed, David. You have to figure some out on your own- we have given you guidance, and now you must act. Let your curiosity guide you, and you will discover the answers."

"Please, just answer one last question. There's something I need to know."

The Starling Court looked at each other until the center figure nodded. "Very well. What is your question?"

"The nurse, Lyn...who really killed her?"

It was obvious this was an unexpected question, as one of the members laughed at the uncomfortable shuffling of the others. "Oh, that was the work of someone quite devious acting in the name of the Raven," the figure said flippantly. "It was a message to Main, and I think he understood it quite well. If you want to ask the one who did it, feel free to do so- after all, they were the one who brought you here to us."

Someone moved out of the corner of David's eye before he had time to react, giving him a glimpse of dark eyes before another blow to the head knocked him back into the realm of unconsciousness.

* * *

This time, David awoke in more pleasant and familiar circumstances. As he slowly felt himself come to, he opened his eyes to see that he was back in his tiny room, lying on top of his cot. The outside was still dark, but it felt closer to dawn than the middle of the night. He couldn't see much else due to his glasses being missing from his face, so with a groan he fumbled around and tried to remember how they had gotten off his face in the first place.

That was when he remembered the events of the night.

For a moment he paused, glasses in hand (having been found on top of the backpack next to his bed), as he wondered if everything had really happened. Had all of it- the Starling Court, the questions, the answers- had that all been a dream? It made sense since he has woken up in his bed...but he couldn't trust his dreams anymore. The line between reality and fantasy had somehow been blurred, and perhaps now it was time for answers to be found.

His head throbbed as he stood up and thrusted on his glasses before stumbling to the door and out into the hallway. A little moonlight still lit his path down the stairs, but also struck a sense of déjà vu within him as he spotted the chandelier. The last time he had ventured down these stair at night was when Lyn had been brutally murdered, a night that felt like so long ago. Tonight however there were no corpses to bring back the memories of that evening, which gave David a sense of relief.

Yet, there was a ray of light spewed across the hall floor, emanating from the direction of the sunroom. Surprisingly, the door was slightly ajar, and David could hear the sound of someone humming from within. "Who the hell...?" David left the question hanging in the air as he slowly crept over to the door and pushed it open, half cautious but also curious at the same time.

A single light was turned on in the room, making up for the lack of sunlight that gave the room its name. It shone brightly on the room's sole occupant, who looked up from the checker board at David's surprised face in the doorway. "Ah, Mr. Kojima," the giant rumbled, "I thought you'd show up. Come in, don't be shy. It's a good thing I set up the checkers, eh? Sit, sit, let's play a game."

David hesitated, then went to join Gann as he quietly remarked, "Sam said you were drugged."

"Oh I was, but once again the dosage was too light." Gann chuckled as David sat down opposite him. "I heard about Sam and Zelda's game however- no surprise Sam got offended, she and Zelda never exactly got along. Sounds like you had an interesting experience."

"It's not the only one I had."

"Really? Do go on."

"I know you took me from my room this evening, and brought me to the Starling Court."

Gann's smile suddenly looked less friendly to the reporter. "What gave it away, the eyes? Nevermind, that's the least important announcement you have, I can tell. No, you have something else to tell me, don't you?"

"I've been thinking, about certain things that have been happening lately," David muttered in a low voice, "and I think I've figured something out, something important I should have seen earlier."

There was a dangerous glint in the giant's dark eyes as he asked, "And what might that important revelation be?"

"Simple." David moved a single black checker as he looked Gann in the eye. "I think you're the Raven."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can already hear some of you screaming at that ending. Is his revelation right? You'll find out next chapter.
> 
> Fun fact time: the Starling Court were actually one of the original components of the draft I began for SM back in October of 2012, and they predate the Raven's inception by a month. In fact, the idea for the Court was changed very little from my creation of the idea to their current form, making it the most consistent idea of SM thus far. Their purpose changed a bit once the Raven was added in, but otherwise they're pretty much the same.
> 
> For those of you keeping tabs on the music that inspires each chapter, this one was written to "In the Courts of the Crimson King", by King Crimson (which isn't on iTunes, but is on Youtube if you ever get curious and decide to listen). While typing this up (since I typed 2/3 of the update in one day), the song "Stone" by Alice in Chains gave it a bit of a gritty nature, which I wasn't expecting, yet thought it suited it nicely in the end.


	8. Over the Void

Chapter Eight: Over the Void

Gann's cold eyes cut through David like a sword as the giant took in this simple statement. "I am, am I?" he finally responded, after moving one of his own checkers to an empty spot. "Tell me, what proof do you have of this?"

"You spoke against Main the first time we met," answered David, as he refused to back down from his opponent's piercing gaze. "When Peach was...disposed of by Miles, you were the one who wanted to wait and see how things played out. You always seem to be watching and waiting, and tonight I recognized you in the Starling Court- you were the one who came and took me from my room...and here you are waiting for me."

"So you have no solid proof? Merely theories from simple observations?"

"No, I have proof. On the night of Lyn's murder, I found a key by the foot of the staircase. The Starling Court said tonight that someone had lost their key, and it seems suspicious to me that it would go missing on the night of a murder." He searched his pockets, but shrugged sheepishly as he came up empty-handed. "They took it from me, but I did have it."

The corners of Gann's mouth twitched as he pulled out the missing key and spun it lazily on his index finger. "You mean  _this_  key?"

David reached to grab it, only to have it yanked away by the giant. "So it was you," the reporter realized aloud as he leaned back. "The key was yours all along." His face hardened into an angry mask as he added, "You're a murderer."

Moving a checker, the red-haired man seemed nonplussed by the accusation. "You say it as if you're in shock."

"You killed her." The reporter's voice was as dead as the woman he spoke of, and the words hung thickly in the air, seemingly pushing away the oxygen and energy in the room.

Now it was Gann's turn to find it hard to glare at David with his usual venomous gaze. He took a moment, perhaps searching his thoughts for any plausible excuse for his dark deeds. Finally, he found what to say, which was surprisingly simple. "Yes, I killed her."

There was a silence that filled every corner of the sunroom stretching on and on for what felt like a lifetime until David, his face pale, sputtered out feebly, "So you are the Raven."

A sigh escaped from Gann. "No David, I am not the Raven. I carry out orders as a member of the Court and on behalf of the Raven, but I do not carry them out as the Raven. No one does- the Raven prefers observation over acting. Acting can lead to discovery after all, and that's the last thing anyone wants."

"But...Lyn's death...that night, the Raven wanted me to see her corpse...were you just 'following orders' then?"

Something about this statement struck a nerve in Gann, who curled his lip and narrowed his eyes at the reporter. "Listen boy," he hissed, "this is a high-stakes game you've become involved in, not some fantasy roleplay. Like I told you, you can't lose your nerve or focus on a single death here, especially when there are things that are more important. Worse things have happened within these walls- much, much worse." Composing himself, the giant took several deep breaths before continuing, "It had to be done. The message had to be sent to Main, and the only way that would happen would be to kill one of his staff."

"Why did you have to kill her though? Does it give you some sort of satisfaction? Or is it just another stepping stone for whatever the Raven has planned?"

Some checkers were shifted about as Gann mused quietly over his response, but it wasn't until one of David's checkers was removed from the board that an answer was finally given. "Killing a person is not an easy task the first time around, you know. The human body, the mind, all scream against killing another person. It is a barrier in a way, a barrier that keeps you from breaking your morals and relinquishing your sanity to the primal instinct of our past. Once you break that barrier, you change in who you are, how you think, how you carry yourself. Some men and women crack and crumble away once they have smashed through the barrier, but some are released. They feel no guilt or emotion for their actions, and they lose their feelings because it is the only way they can cope and sleep at night without the immense reality of their actions weighing them down. After that, after taking the plunge and killing for the first time, the floodgates are opened and it can be done again and again as naturally as tying one's shoe."

"That's why you were chosen? You've...killed people before?"

The giant laughed softly to himself. "According to Main, I am here because I kidnapped Zelda and held her hostage until her 'friend' found me and beat me within an inch of my life. Yet I know I've killed people- the feeling is something that hangs over you whether you wish to admit it or not. It's like a light coat you slip on- barely noticeable, but still there. Samantha is under the assumption, along with others here, that we live other lives. I know she is right-how else can I explain the feelings of bloodlust and murder, or the memories of dark actions I carry within my head? I have done far, far worse than hold someone hostage, and the Raven knows it.'

'While here, I've tried to keep low, and tried to act like a normal individual by throwing aside my past deed, but killing Lyn only proves one thing: I am a bad guy. A villain. No matter how hard I try to change, no matter what good intentions I have, I can never escape my true nature. In the end, it only leads to more death and blood on my hands...and I am beginning to grow weary of both. I killed Lyn because it needed to be done- was it the right thing to do? No, but that no longer matters much. There are no longer good choices or bad choices here- the choice now is between who is telling the most truthful things. People will eventually be hurt in the struggle, but there are always casualties."

David removed one of Gann's checkers from the board, causing the giant to frown. "It sounds like you feel guilty for Lyn's death. Didn't you say after killing so many, it made you devoid of feelings?"

"This place has changed me, Mr. Kojima. I am not the cold-hearted tyrant I once was in the past, for now I do feel guilt over Lyn's death. I took it too far, and I regret having to fall back on my old ways after keeping away from them for so long."

"So tell me this then: how do I fit into all of this?"

"You still have to ask that question?"

"Of course, I'm a reporter...at least I think I am. Tonight has been one of those nights when I find myself asking questions about who I am, rather than learning answers about who everyone else is."

"Consider me surprised then. I thought you would have already caught on." Gann took his eyes off the checkerboard for a moment as he leaned forward and balanced his chin on his knuckles. "You, David Kojima, are the key to us getting out of here, to stopping Main's web of lies and fix us from whatever he's done to us. Main already knows this, and knows you pose a threat to everything he has established here- why else would he invite you here, when no other reporter has been allowed to the island? He knows you could come, and he has been prepared to stop you from the moment you set foot on the boat that brought you here."

The thought that Main had purposefully invited him for a reason other than reporting had never crossed David's mind, but now he realized it was a very real possibility. "So I'm supposed to be some sort of hero?"

"Oh no, not a hero- a hero's job is to defeat evil. Your task is to restore thing to the way they once were."

"What way? How can I even do something like this?"

"You don't believe the Raven's truth about our memories, but soon you will see that we are honest. As for how you can help us...did Main mention the third floor to you?"

That memory of the day of his arrival seemed like so long ago. Yet the experience still remained fresh in David's mind as he recalled the warning the Master had given him. "Yeah, on the first day he forbade me to go there, but when I asked Soloro about it..."

"He denied the existence of the third floor?" Another checker was moved, accompanied by an eye roll from Gann. "Isaac's a little ass, and you should ignore anything he happens to say. Believe me, there is a third floor."

"What's up there?"

"I haven't a single idea, but something is up there, something that Main doesn't want anyone to see, especially you. I have a hunch that somewhere up there is the answer to where we came from, and why we are currently here."

"Let me guess: you want me to get up to the third floor somehow and do a little investigation work?" David began to absentmindedly move his checkers as his thoughts drifted away from the game and toward the mystery of the third floor's contents.

"Exactly! You're a reporter, so getting hard-to-obtain information must be second nature to you. Now, the third floor entrance is supposedly located in the library...but Main keeps that place locked up tight. In order to go upstairs, you'll need the key to get inside."

Frowning, David responded, "Hang on, doesn't the Starling Court have a key to the library? After all, they have the keys for getting into the rooms."

Gann ruefully shook his head. "They've tried before, but the lock is different, and the mechanism is too complex to fashion a fake key out of. The only way to get in is with the actual key, and the person who has that is none other than our resident asswipe, Dr. Soloro."

Laughing, David ran a hand wearily through his hair and exclaimed, "This already sounds like an impossible task!"

"Here the impossible is possible, Mr. Kojima." The giant suddenly looked down at the checkerboard and allowed himself a smile. "You underestimate your own capabilities. Let your instinct guide you, since it seems you accomplish more when you don't focus on something."

_The hell is he talking about now?_  Looking down at the checkerboard, David didn't understand at first what Gann meant. Then he saw that all but one of Gann's checkers had been removed from the board. Wordlessly, he passed his closest checker over the lone black one and took it from the board, bringing an end to their game.

"You know, nobody has ever beaten me in a game," Gann continued with a hint of admiration in his deep timbre. "Until now, that is. Remember, Mr. Kojima, when it really comes down to it, this is all just a game: a game of truth, of lies, or trust, sanity, and so on. The stakes are high, and your opponents are crafty, but you can match them move for move, and beat them when they least expect it. You just need to trust your instinct."

As he finished speaking, Gann rose from his spot and unfolded his massive limbs in a surprisingly graceful fashion. Pointing towards the door, he turned himself to gaze out the window at the first hints of dawn creeping up on the night. "I hope my answers are satisfactory to your questions. The life I live is not one I am content with, and my choices are partially to blame for that. Yet, right now, what I do- and what you should be prepared to do- is for the good of every patient in the Mansion."

"Thank you."

This seemed to be a surprising statement to the giant. "Oh? What for?"

"For at least trying to make light of the situation at hand. However, there's still one question I have." David, who had risen and moved toward the door, hesitated and looked back at Gann's shadowy form. "In the Starling Court tonight, one of the members said they didn't want something bad to happen again. What did they mean?"

Gann stiffened slightly, but relaxed after taking a drawn-out sigh. "A few years ago," he softly explained without diverting his attention from the window, "long before your arrival or the rise of the Raven, a group of patients thought it was time to act against Main. Four of them developed a plan, and their leader- a highly gifted individual- was ready to dispose of Main and leave the island for good. They were confident their plan would go off without a problem. Unfortunately, they were horribly, horribly mistaken. On the night of their attempted takeover, Main apprehended all four patients after somehow learning of their plot. He placed them all in the restraint room, and three of them died after hours upon hours of what the Master called 'retraining'. The fourth, their leader...well, Main changed him. He was brainwashed by Main into believing his memories were all fake, and that Main was the one who rescued him from his sorry state. Main made his become a loyal worker and kept him by his side, so he could never be distrustful again. None of the patients dared to challenge Main after that until you arrived.

"Wait, so if the patient is still alive and working for Main, does that mean he's here? Who is he?"

A sly smile slid over Gann's stony features, standing out against the shadows surrounding him. "He was - is - one of our more unusual patients, and I gave him the name of the Psychic long ago, since he always seemed to know what was on someone's mind. You see him practically every day. The patient who staged the rebellion is none other than the chef, Miles Tibbins."


	9. A Time for Action

Chapter Nine: A Time for Action

If David believed the plan to get the key for the library was going to be easy, he was quickly shown otherwise. Dr. Isaac Soloro, his target, seemed to never rest, as David observed over the course of a few days in order to plan out his method. The young man was always on the move, snapping at people and dealing out the patients' dosages with a grimace- it was surprising the man found time to eat or sleep. He also seemed highly suspicious of anyone who wasn't himself, even glaring at the reporter from time to time, as if he could see the thought swirling around his head. Getting him to cough up the key was going to be the trickiest part of Gann's plan.

It wasn't just Soloro who David watched, however: Miles was now given more attention after the revelation of his past had come to light. The reporter had known something seemed weird about the albino chef, but now the man's quiet demeanor and cold eyes held new meaning. He couldn't be trusted as long as he was loyal to Main, and now he posed a silent threat to what could happen if David's plan went wrong. Even the Raven seemed to see the chef as an uncertain variable, for the night after Gann's talk a tapped message had echoed through David's room.  _Be wary of Miles,_  it had warned, _for although he has been tamed by Main, he can still bite_. No other guidance or words of wisdom had followed over the course of the next few days, which wasn't a surprise. After all, there was only a single goal: get the key and go to the third floor.

How David was going to do so was another matter entirely.

On the fifth day after his meeting with the Starling Court, David made his way into the sunroom as he always did. Ignoring the typical glare Isaac threw his way, he took the familiar route to his spot on the worn-down couch, which he noticed had become to be left unoccupied, as if in preparation for his coming. Sitting down, he opened his notebook and smirked slightly as he examined the various small notes and diagrams that he had jotted down during his time at the Mansion. While he had originally planned to use the notebook for his story, it now served the purpose of containing all the things he had learned from his time here. Could it be used for his story? Well, yes, but if he wrote a story on the truth of the Mansion, who would believe him? Better yet, why should he write a story if the Raven was telling the truth about his past? As long as the Mansion held mysteries, he was going to have to put the story on hold.

The sound of squishing fabric didn't cause David to divert his attention; he already knew whom it was sitting across from him on the ottoman. "Hello, Gann."

"Hello, David. Make any progress yet?"

"No, nothing yet."

The giant man sighed in disappointment. "There isn't much time to act, you know. You're supposed to leave the island when the boat returns in ten days."

David hadn't realized time had slipped by so fast, but he was relieved there was still some time left. However, a question weighed on his mind concerning his eventual departure. "Do you really think Main will let me leave? After all, if he thinks I'm a threat to the Mansion, I doubt I'll be able to walk out of here with simply a wave goodbye."

Gann had an answer immediately. "I think he'll kill you first, which is why we need to act soon."

The two were silent for a moment, perhaps trying not to imagine the possible consequences if they ran out of time. Then, before they could let more dark futures fill their heads, Sam plopped down beside David with her usual maniacal smile. "Hello Steve and Gann! You two are looking down in the dumps today."

"We were merely thinking, Samantha," Gann muttered as he looked at the empty checkerboard in front of him. He hadn't played the game since David had bested him on the night of their conversation, and it was as if the gaming spirit had been sucked out of him by his loss.

"Thinking? Doesn't it hurt your head to think that hard?" Seeing the dark look the giant gave her, Sam quickly backtracked to avoid his anger. "Sorry, only joking. Tell me though, why all the secrecy? You two plotting something?"

Gann and David shared a glance with each other, and then David quietly began, "The Raven wants me to access the third floor of the Mansion."

Sam's nose wrinkled at this. "I think the Raven's actually insane on this one- or lazy, since they can't just go up there by themselves. How are you even supposed to get there- let me guess, by teleporting?"

"The only way to get up there is through the library, and the only way to get into there is with the key to the doors...which Dr. Soloro keeps on himself at all times."

The two men and the blonde stole a quick look at Dr. Soloro, who was administering a cocktail of drugs to one of the patients. A low whistle came from Sam. "Jeez, that's going to be rough then."

"That's an understatement." David pushed his glasses back on his nose and focused on the head doctor with a studying glare. Isaac had been nothing but rude and disrespectful to him since his arrival, and he constantly seemed to want to make David feel guilty about something, even when there was absolutely nothing for him to feel guilty about. It was infuriating to say the least, and sometimes all David wanted to do was deck him. Yet, he couldn't- there was too much at stake to lose his temper over, especially at this moment. "Soloro doesn't seem to take any breaks," he said as he pulled his thoughts back to the current task. "It's as if he's some sort of robot."

"An evil robot with a medicinal degree," Gann grimly added as Sam snickered. The sound of her quiet laughter seemed to jar something in his thoughts however, for he turned to Sam with a gleam in his eye.

The self-proclaimed bounty hunter saw the look. "Oh hell no. I am  _not_  charming Dr. Sleaze over there into coughing up the key!"

"I wouldn't dare suggest such a thing!"

"Then tell me why you have that 'crazed Dark Lord with a plan' look in your eyes."

Thankfully, David realized what Gann was actually thinking about. "Sam," he interrupted, "I think what Gann is trying to say is that you constantly get into trouble with Soloro. If there's any one person who would know how to get the key from him, it would most likely be you."

Sam tilted her head to this side in contemplation, allowing for her bangs to cascade from one side of her face to the other. "Well, he usually hangs around here to keep an eye on things or drag up the patients. Sometimes he goes to the medical room for a break, but that place is crawling with doctors and nurses, so getting the key there would be impossible. I think the only real way to get it would have to involve some sort of distraction to take his mind off the key."

"True, but how can we distract him when he's always occupied?" David felt the enormity of their predicament wash over him like a tidal wave as he buried his hands in his hands. "It's impossible. There's just no way something like this can be done."

Someone patted him gently on the shoulder. "Hey, don't throw in the towel yet, David." He looked up at Sam in surprise- she had never called him David before- as she continued, "It's not impossible. Think about it- so many things have happened already, and you've barely batted an eye at any of them. Dammit, you're a reporter! You should be able to take the impossible and make us believe it's possible, even if it isn't! You still have a chance to stop Main, and we can help. Just please don't give up yet...not when everyone is counting on you."

David realized at that moment that all the patients had their eyes fixed on him, even in their various levels of drugged consciousness. He looked silently around the room at all the staring faces, and his mind struggled as various feeling of familiarity overcame him. Somehow, these patients all seemed so familiar, as if he had known them for a longer time than he actually had. Could it be due to the past life supposedly locked away in his mind, as the Raven believed? His eyes met the cool and steady gaze of Zelda, who was shuffling a deck of cards and gave him a small nod of encouragement. Sam was right: all the patients were counting on him to do something about Main and the Mansion, and the Raven believed he was capable of doing it. His curiosity had led him here for a reason, and there was no way he could turn his back on it now.

"Okay, I won't give up. Yet, how will we get Soloro's key?"

The same mad look that David had seen in Sam's eyes on the first day resurfaced with a vengeance. "I think I can help with that." Without another word, she got up and walked away before falling over into a large chair. Giggling, she called out in a slurred voice, "Hey Soloro!"

The reporter had never seen the doctor flip round so fast, or the sunroom become so silent. Sam had a cheeky grin plastered across her face, obviously happy with how things were going so far. "Oh doctoooor, guess what I didn't take today!"

Soloro marched over with the precision of a drill sergeant and came to hover angrily over the young woman. "Miss Aran, I'm going to assume you haven't taken your medicine again?" He smiled darkly at his own question. "Is it time for you to pay another visit to Dr. Main?"

"But Isaac," Sam whined, "I brought you a present!"

This was an unexpected response, making Isaac frown. "A present? What do you mean?"

What occurred next was a moment that would remain cemented in everyone's minds long after the day had ended.

Sam struck with the lightning speed and efficiency of a viper, crossing the gap between herself and Soloro to connect her fist to the doctor's nose. There was obvious power packed into her punch, for her impact sent a mini shockwave through Isaac's face that actually caused his stiff spiked hair to shudder. The point of contact, Soloro's nose, let out a massive cracking sound as the bone snapped messily into heaven-knows how many pieces. Barely a second passed as Soloro raised a hand to his face in surprise, felt the warm tide of blood dripping down to his upper lip, and reeled back with a high-pitched cry of pure pain. He stumbled backwards and fell to the carpet, clutching his busted nose and muffling his screams as he turned away from Sam. She meanwhile looked down triumphantly, then knelt beside him and exclaimed "Surprise!" as she patted his pocket in mock sympathy.

David realized his mouth was hanging open from watching, but a quick look to Gann made him snap it closed. The giant didn't look pleased by what had occurred so far, and his eyes held an emotional energy that could be described as sorrow.

Suddenly, Soloro's moans of pain collected into an angry roar, and he shambled to his feet with blood coating his face. His own hand surged forward and struck Sam across the face, knocking her to the floor with a thud. She hissed in pain, and those watching saw that there was a bloody handprint smeared across her cheek, where Isaac had marked her. "You  _bitch_!" Isaac snarled as he stood over her now, the tables having turned to his favor. "I think someone needs to teach you your place here once and for all!"

The doctor delivered a savage kick to the blonde, making David nearly jump to his feet as she cried out. Gann quickly placed his hand on David's arm, encasing it in an iron grip and preventing him from acting as Soloro kicked Sam again and again. David forced himself to block out the blood and yelling, while wondering why no one was stopping this violence. He couldn't act, for that would only draw the attention to him and possibly make Isaac angrier. Had this been Sam's plan all along, or had something gone horribly wrong down the line?

"Enough, Isaac."

The young doctor froze as he prepared for another kick, his breath coming in heavy gasps as he looked up slowly at Rosalina in the doorway. She strode forward and glanced briefly at his injuries, then quietly murmured, "That's enough. Come, let's get you cleaned up."

"This patient needs to be dealt with-"

"I'll take her to the restraint room."

Miles drifted into the sunroom like a ghost, as if vainly chasing his voice from moments before. His red eyes lingered no David for a second, sending a feeling of cold fear through the reporter's veins, before he turned to look at Sam. "She will be a model patient once she spends some time in the restraint room. I'll see to her punishment personally."

Sam whimpered softly, and Rosalina looked concerned but nonetheless replied, "So be it. Take her there- I'll attend to Dr. Soloro."

Miles gave a single nod, and scooped Sam us with ease as if she weighed nothing. Humming a nameless tune to himself, he appeared almost gleeful as he ventured back out and ignored the watching eyes.

Rosalina handed a handkerchief to Isaac, who pressed it against his nose with more moans of pain as the nurse helped him walk to the doorway. She paused for a moment to look back and catch David's eye to announce, "The Master wishes to see you in his office, Mr. Kojima. I was on my way to fetch you when...this all occurred. I believe you can find your way there without my help." She didn't wait for his reply, and left the room, with a few nurses and doctors entering after her to monitor the patients.

David was surprised by her order, but then he remembered Main had cameras here in the room, giving him a view of the goings on each and every day. Suddenly the conversation he had shared with Gann a few nights before was thrown into doubt. Had Main seen it, and decided to question him about it? The camera behind him seemed to fill up the entire room with its watchful eye, and David walked to the door while feeling its glare-and the glare of the Master- bearing down on him.

Gann watched him go, and then sadly shook his head. He rose with a sigh of disappointment, and gazed down at the carpet. For all of David's observant skills and habits, he had failed to notice the small brass key lying on the bloodstained carpet, the one thing Sam had gone to all the trouble to get...

* * *

_Plop!_

David had barely spent a minute in Main's office when the sound of something hitting the Master's desk echoed through the silence. A familiar cough soon followed as David paused in the middle of the room. "Greetings, Mr. Kojima," Main announced, with his frail voice somehow filling the room as if he was yelling. "I'm sorry you had to bear witness to that display of violence from one of our patients. Like I said before, they cannot be trusted to be calm- after all, they are in this asylum for a reason."

There was no mention of Soloro's beating to Sam, but David knew this wouldn't be mentioned, and it was best not to bring it up. Main, as David had come to realize, was the type of person who told you half-truths and the facts he wanted people to know. The other details were tossed casually to the side, out of the way of prying eyes and those seeking the complete truth. It kept him in control, but now the reporter knew Main's control was beginning to slip as the days passed.

Taking a seat in front of the Master's desk and his chair (still turned toward the window), David kept his distrust of Main under wraps as he noticed a manila folder lying on the desk. "What's this?"

"Take a look. It's something you might find highly interesting."

Something about Main's tone made David cautious, but he picked up the folder and opened it in puzzlement. Inside were pages of handwritten notes, piled carefully underneath a single black and white folder of a beaming man and woman. The woman, who had light hair cut into a short fashion, cradled a small bundle in her arms, while the dark-haired man was dressed in a military uniform and seemed a little older than his female companion. The two wore wedding bands that signified they were husband and wife, and their happiness was apparent from the smiles on their faces. While David did not initially recognize anyone in the picture, the longer he stared at it, the more he felt like he knew the woman being shown. Then he realized...he had seen those eyes before, only they had been filled with madness and insanity. "Is this...?"

"This is Samantha Mya Aran, in a photograph taken three years ago outside her home." Main broke into a rough cough and then continued to explain. "The man beside her is Adam Malkovitch, her husband. If you noticed, she is holding a baby- her newborn child, Mettie. The picture was taken a few months before Miss Aran was brought into our care, and it remains the last photo of the three together. Now, let me tell you about Miss Aran.

'Samantha Aran's parents died when she was very young, in a burglary gone wrong. Because she had no other relatives, she was sent to a military boarding school in the mainland mountains, where she received training on discipline and fighting skills. It was obvious to her instructors that she was a highly gifted student, and so when she was old enough to leave the boarding school, she was fast tracked to the military academy to complete her training. While there, she met a commanding officer- Adam Malkovitch. He made many reports on how Samantha's attitude and independent spirit got her into trouble, but it seems as though the two grew close over the course of their time in the Academy. After a few years, Miss Aran retired from military life, married Mr. Malkovitch, moved into a little house in the suburbs, and started a family. Adam continued his military work, she took up a job as a part-time bounty hunter until her child was born, and their life seemed perfect."

'Of course, perfection is nothing more than a vain fantasy concocted by those who truly don't know what's going on. On September 23rd, Samantha Aran, for reasons unknown, lost her sanity. According to police reports, she attacked her child with a knife after her husband had left for work, and killed it. Realizing too late what she had done, she called her husband and left a single message: 'The baby...the baby.' Adam left work and rushed home, and upon entering the house and finding their child brutally murdered, confronted his wife. They both had guns on them, and when he reached for his, she shot him seven times in the chest at point blank range. He died before authorities, alerted by panicked neighbors, could act. Samantha Aran was charged with the murder of her family, but when it was found that she was unfit to stand trial, she was sent here instead, and here she has remained."

No other words came from the reporter, who stared at the photo in shock as Main hissed, "You cannot trust them, Mr. Kojima. They are not innocent, simple-minded fools- they are criminals of the worst sort. This is the purpose of this place- to keep regular people like you protected from dangerous criminals such as these. Keep that in mind as you write. You came to learn the truth, and here is the truth: Anyone can end up here. It could be a gang member, it could be a housewife, and it could even be a curious reporter. Treasure your sanity, Mr. Kojima, and believe me when I tell you that you do  _not_  want to get involved with these types of people."

The veiled threat wasn't lost on David, who managed to growl out, "Is there anything else I should know?"

"No," said Main simply. "Just thought you should know some of the facts. Be on your way- you don't have much longer here...and David? Be sure to watch yourself."

Whether he was talking about the patients or himself was ambiguous, and David left the office in a state of confused dread. Main obviously knew what he was up to, and seemed determined to sway his thought. All the evidence during his time at the Mansion had pointed to Main being right in everything he said- how else would there be pictures of Sam, even though she claimed she never lived a life like that? She had never talked about her past, and perhaps this was the reason why: at the end of the day, it was better to think of herself as Samus the bounty hunter than as Samantha the murderer. Yet, some part of him wanted to believe she was right, for it was the only way it could explain his strange dreams and missing memories.

Suddenly, David saw something lying at the foot of the hallway staircase, glinting dully in the light of the afternoon sun. He knelt down to pick it up, and found it was a small brass key, with a piece of paper tied to it that read:

_She did this for you. Don't let her down._

His hand shook slightly as he recognized the writing to be that of Gann's, and he closed his fingers tightly around the gift as Sam's earlier words came to mind. Sane or not, these patients were counting on him, and he couldn't give up now, not after he had come so far and learned so much. The reporter had chosen his side, and now he had to follow through with what that choice meant. Sam had put herself in harm's way to help him, and crazy or not, it was something he couldn't ignore.

Rising, he looked over at the locked doors to the library, which seemed to loom ominously in the shadows.

It was finally time for action, and to uncover the mystery of the Mansion of the Mentally Smashed.

It was time to pay a visit to the third floor.


	10. The Journal of Dr. Main

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, BIG thing to realize before you start reading. This is the chapter where I reveal a LOT of stuff, so it might be good to take a second and do a little rereading. No, you won't find out who the Raven is (yet), but you're going to learn a bit about the pre-asylum days of the Mansion.  
> For those of you unaware of it, this is a videogame fanfiction. I have taken characters that already exist and crafted an original story behind them. I do HEAVILY allude to this in this chapter, so if you're confused about characters, it's ok. I'm happy to clarify any questions you may have. However, more will be explained in later chapters, so you might want to hold tight for a bit and see if your question gets answered.

Chapter 10: The Journal of Dr. Main

"David."

A hissed whisper failed to awaken David from his slumbering, sprawled position on his cot. He had gone to his room after finding the key left by Gann, knowing that the best time to act would be during the night, when less people would be awake to his investigation. Having a few hours before the sun set and the patients were herded back to their rooms, he retreated to his own room to write and reflect on his plan. It was fairly obvious that he had tried to write, with his notebook open on his chest and his glasses arranged crookedly on the bridge of his nose, but sleep had overtaken him with the swiftness of a bird of prey.

For the first time since his arrival at the Mansion, David Kojima did not dream. His mind was merely a dark and yawning hole, a curtain of nothingness that separated the line between being awake and being asleep. No scenes of violence crashed through his head, no screams or musical bursts of gunfire rang in his ears- there was only silence. It was a peaceful way to exist, but the void he found himself in was as delicate as a silvery spider web. Perhaps it was due to the lack of thought that occupied his mind that he jolted out of sleep with a surprised curse, as a pencil sailed across the room and beaned him on the temple.

"Jeez, you could sleep through a bomb, couldn't you?"

David groaned and massaged the sore muscles in the back of his neck, but froze as he realized that a figure stood in his room. It was dark outside, and the little moonlight that shone in the room could not pierce the shadows that hid the intruder...but the voice was familiar. Upon realizing who it was, he had to wonder if he was still dreaming. "...Sam?"

The figure chuckled, but refused to come closer to the light. "You sound surprised. Who did you think it was- Gann?"

"He's been in here before, so I wouldn't be surprised," David muttered, then shook his head in confusion. "Wait, how'd you get in here? I thought Miles..."

His unfinished words seemed to be already said in the silence that followed, allowing Sam's shadowy figure to shift uncomfortably. "He did. They threw me in my cell a few hours after he...dealt with me. Then Gann came and unlocked my door a few minutes ago, and told me you got the key."

"What did he do? Miles, I mean."

"You don't want to know," she fired back bluntly. "Trust me, you don't want to know. He knows how to cause pain...but don't worry about me. I've been through worse."

The last sentence was uttered softly to herself, but David heard them and swallowed nervously. "You probably should know Main talked to me. He...he told me about you."

"What do you mean?"

"He talked about...how you had a family, and what you did to them. Why you're apparently here."

In an instant, David went from sitting up on his bed to being slammed against the wall, held in place by the weight of an arm against his throat. His head reeled from the impact of the wall against his skull, and he nearly blacked out in shock. Sam's face loomed close to his, her eyes filled with feral anger, while a patchwork of bruises and angry red cuts across her cheeks held David's attention. He didn't dare look her in the eyes as she hissed, "So he told you about 'Adam'. Well, did you believe him? Do you think he's right- do you think I could do such an awful thing to a husband and a child?"

He forced himself to meet her gaze, and as he did, he realized something. Hidden away under the layers of anger in her eyes was another emotion: fear. Sam had clung to the belief that she wasn't insane, wasn't a murderer, and she couldn't accept anything that would destroy that belief. It would put all her struggles and defiance to waste if she learned Main was right after all this time. All the patients wanted Main to be wrong, but David knew that the tales the Master spun held grains of truth. Even if they had never committed the crimes Main and Gann had mentioned before, it felt as though the crimes could be committed by the people in the Mansion. "I think you could," he finally wheezed as he tore away his gaze. "I think any of us here could do something like that."

Sam didn't respond, but moved away from the reporter and hovered near the edge of his cot, half in light, and half in shadow. He looked down at him with a shaken expression, and if she was hurt by his comment, she did a fantastic job of hiding it. "I know I could," she whispered in shock, "but I swear, I never did. I've seen death, seen people I know and love die in front of me, but I swear; I  _swear_  to you, I never killed them."

"I believe you."

The woman let her thoughts settle in silence, and then turned to a more important thought on her mind. "There's only one way to prove it though- we have to go to the third floor."

"We?"

"Yeah, I'm coming with you. It would suck if something bad happened to you up there."

David gave Sam an amused glare. "I think you just admitted you secretly care."

"I did not! It would just be a waste if you ended up breaking your neck after all this time."

"Fine, fine, I think it's time we go see what's up there." He rose to go to the door, but paused as a question surfaced in his mind. "One last question though: how did you get into my room if the door was locked?"

Sam rolled her eyes and pulled out a small, flat key from her pajama sleeve and held it up, allowing the moonlight to illuminate it and turn it to a silvery sight. "You didn't think Gann was the _only_  member of the Court, did you?"

* * *

A few minutes later the two found themselves at the library door, which loomed ominously and cast dark shadows onto them. They had no trouble sneaking down the stairs to the entrance hall, for the regular patrol of nurses and doctors were unexpectedly absent. This struck David as unusual, but Sam had reckoned that Main perceived the threat of the Raven to be gone. Something about that theory didn't seem to add up, but David pushed the thoughts to the side as he slipped the key from Dr. Soloro into the lock.

"You ready for this?"

"David, I was born ready. Open it up."

"Okay, here we go."

The reporter turned the key carefully until he heard a small click sound, then pushed open one of the doors. It groaned as if to warn him of the punishment for trespassing, but he paid it no heed as both he and Sam walked inside and shut the door behind them, sealing themselves in the room.

The library was a massive room, perhaps the biggest in the entire Mansion, and covered in book-filled stone shelves that stretched all the way to the curved ceiling. Old rolling ladders reached to the ceiling as well, allowing for the books on the top level of shelving to be reached. A single wall of windows let moonlight bathe the parquet floors, illuminating the fine layer of dust that had gathered on nearly every object. Even the large mahogany table and red plush chairs and couches orbiting it were covered in dust, having not been disturbed for some time. Everything was still and silent, like a tomb of an ancient king that time had forgotten, but the magnificence of the old library had not faded with disuse.

"Wow." David's single word echoed in the room as he walked over to a shelf and ran a finger over the old leather volumes in wonder. "This place is amazing. I can't believe Main wouldn't want anyone to come in here- I could spend years just trying to read all these books!"

His companion was less impressed. "It's very pretty, but there's just one problem."

"What?"

"I don't see any third floor."

She was right: there was no visible way to get to another floor of the Mansion, let alone any indication that another floor existed. "No...no, there has to be a way to the third floor! Maybe it's hidden, maybe we just need to look harder." Eyeing the books, he suggested, "Maybe it's behind one of the shelves."

"Oh, that's original. Especially because there are hundreds of shelves here."

"Just look around and see if there's anything that strikes you as suspicious."

She didn't press him further, but inside David's chest his heart pounded in a frantic rhythm. There had to be an entrance to the third floor somewhere- he couldn't have come all this way for nothing!

As he examined the titles of the books surrounding him, he noticed that most of them were ones he had never heard of before, with strange titles such as  _The History of Hyrule, Giovanni: The Legacy of a Madman,_ and  _A Study of Zebes_. Other books were written in languages or letters that were meaningless and unrecognizable to him. There were even a few rolled up scrolls tucked away on the shelves. What kind of strange library was this?

After a couple of minutes of fruitless searching, David's fingers alighted on a small, well-worn leather book with its title emblazoned in gold lettering across its spine:  _The Journal of Dr. Main._ The simple words sent a jolt through David, who held his breath as he attempted to pull it from the shelf, only for it to stop with a quiet click.

Suddenly there was the dull grinding sound of stone moving on stone, and a yelp from Sam on one of the library ladders, as a section of shelf she was examining began to move. As David watched, it slowly moved backwards and behind another shelf, exposing a dark alcove that had been behind it. "A secret passage," David muttered, and then said aloud, "Look Sam, it's behind one of the shelves."

"Shut up, David!" Sam shook her head as she regained her balance and stepped from the ladder to the alcove in a single fluid move. "Come on, let's check it out."

David needed no further encouragement as he hurried and climbed up the rickety ladder, brimming with anticipation. Here the answers to all his questions lay in wait, ready to be uncovered...or so he hoped.

He reached the alcove to find Sam waiting for him with a flashlight in hand. "I found it on the ground in here," she explained as she handed the flashlight off to him and jerked a thumb behind her. "It doesn't look very big, and it's not much of a third floor. More like some weird secret attic."

"Still, it's something Main wanted to keep hidden, and now we get to see why." David shone the light around the small stone room, illuminating dusty files cabinets, and cardboard boxes of papers and folders. Sam was right- it didn't look like much- but he knew whatever was her was important. "We don't have much time, so we have to act fast. You look in the file cabinets for anything of interest, and I'll take a look at all these papers."

"Sounds like a plan."

Placing the flashlight upright on the floor, David settled down in front of one of the boxes and lifted it up, finding it surprisingly light. Its contents shifted a bit, exposing a small brown book at the bottom of the box. A feeling of familiarity overcame David, and he realized it looked identical to the 'journal' he had found downstairs. Lifting it from the box, he made out the faded gold lettering and realized this book with yellowed pages was the apparent journal of Dr. Main himself. "Sam, I think I found his journal."

"Whose, Main? Read it then- I think these cabinets have patient files, so I'll look at these."

Nodding, David blew off the dust from the front cover, and coughed slightly as he opened the journal to the first page and began to read...

* * *

_Day One_

_Today was a peaceful day. Once it was rare to have such peace here, for years ago an evil force darkened our world, turning light to darkness and corrupting even the most powerful and pure-hearted of souls. However, the great evil was defeated by a gathering of warriors from many lands, who journeyed from far and wide to fight the evil and restore light to all corners of the universe. My younger brother and I were powerful beings, nearly powerful enough to stop this evil, but we were no match for his dark power- it wasn't until the great warriors arrived that we were able to defeat the evil force. Afterwards, I helped to create a small world, a bridge between universes, where these heroes could gather and train together as one group._

_Nevertheless, I admit, I grow restless, as does my brother. Here in the world we have created, we have the power of gods...but even that is tiring after a while. What use are our powers when there is nothing to use them for? I should be grateful that we are at peace, but instead I find myself yearning for something new. Perhaps soon I will find something to satisfy me._

_Day Five_

_I have finally found something of interest!_

_Earlier today, while I sat in my library, I reflected on how the universes are made up of multitudes of worlds, all existing in harmony with one another. This made me wonder: if my brother and I have immense power in this world, what sort of power would we possess in another? I asked my brother this question, but like always his simple mind seemed not to comprehend the idea I was forming in my own mind. There must be another world out there, one filled with power beyond our wildest imagination! However, it must take immense power to be able to reach it- I must investigate how I might be able to achieve such a feat._

_Day Ten_

_Success has finally come to me- the secret was within me all along!_

_You see, in order to help the warriors in my world, I bestowed orbs infused with my own power, which allowed the warriors to achieve attacks that are normally impossible. If I harness the power of these orbs, I will be able to create a way to the other universe I am sure is out there somewhere. Already I have started building a device under the Mansion we all reside in that will take me and my brother to this other universe, and when we are ready we will leave this world. The warriors can manage on their own._

_Day Twenty_

_I am so very close to completing the device to another world, but I needed one last element: the core of a star. In our- no, my- world, stars are something that only powerful beings such as myself can handle, but they are hard to come by due to their volatile nature. Luckily, today someone who happens to work with the very item I need came to the Mansion, and agreed to give me the material I need. She seemed highly dubious of the lie I told- that I needed the star to create more powerful training weapons- but I know she will not question it. It is not in her nature to challenge such things._

_One of the warriors- perhaps the strongest of all of them- seems to know I'm up to something. I keep seeing him giving my brother and I knowing looks, and I find him sometimes watching me. Perhaps he wishes to see what we are up to, but I no longer care- I just am excited to go to another universe and experience all it has to offer._

_Day Twenty One_

_No time to write. Tonight we leave the Mansion. The machine is finally complete._

_Day One, New World_

_I never thought I would use this journal again, but something terrible has happened._

_Last night my brother and I fired up the machine, ready to leave our world behind. Yet, something went wrong- so, so wrong. We could see the world in front of us, ready to be visited, but then everything around us began to shake. There was a loud noise not unlike a scream, and I felt myself be...pulled. That is the only way to describe the feeling, and I have never felt it before. It was as if my very essence was yanked out of me and shoved in backwards. The force of it knocked me out, and when I came to, I felt...different. I looked down at myself and suddenly screamed._

_I was human._

_This world, the one we thought held power for us, has reduced my brother and I to human forms. It gives us a dull buzzing in our minds, as our godlike powers were not meant to inhabit such delicate bodies. Yet, that is not the worst part. The machine did more than transport us- it transported the entire Mansion and all of its inhabitants, including the woman who gave me the star and a person she traveled with. Everyone is in shock, and I told them the reason for us being here is because of an accident. I will not tell them what truly happened to us. For now, the mission has become find a way to get home._

_One of our own is lost- the warrior who has been staring at me in suspicion. I thought I saw him outside the chamber where we keep the machine, but he has not been seen anywhere in the Mansion. Brother believes he has been knocked from space and time somehow, and could reappear at any moment or at a future time, but brother is crazy. The warrior will show up soon._

_Day Forty-Five, New World_

_Adjusting to this new world is very hard. Many of the warriors came from worlds where they were not human, but here they have become humanoid. It has shaken many of them, and they wish to return home. I investigated the machine, and while it is in working order, it will not turn on nor work. I have no idea why. Brother still believes it's due to the missing warrior, but I laugh at him. After all, he is crazy._

_Something odd is happening to brother and me. Our human bodies were at first strange and disgusting, but now I find it a delight to walk around the perimeter of the Mansion, which has become an island in a sea. I can see a mainland from here, but there doesn't appear to be much there. However, today I thought of an odd thing: I remembered brother and I going to school in our human bodies. We never went to a school, but the memory was so clear it felt as though we had. I was very confused and told brother, who said he too had been having memories that he knew he had never experienced before. I believe it to be a side effect of traveling to this new world, and I think it will fade over time._

_Day Sixty Three_

_Time is behaving strangely here. It feels as though it has become frozen, for I see the trees on the mainland changing colors, but here everything remains cold and barren. My body is becoming stranger- today, when I went to use my power to pick up a pen to write in this journal (as I always do), I was struck with immense pain. It made me unable to do anything for an hour at least, and scared me. Me, a god, afraid of myself! How ridiculous it sounds...but this world is strange and cruel. I think it has corrupted my powers, and is turning them against me with memories that are not my own._

_The memories are getting worse, and I am nowhere closer to finding a cure. Brother and I have begun to argue more over what to do. I am beginning to think our only option is to remain here._

_Day One Hundred and Two_

_Today I must regretfully report that brother has died._

_We had been fighting more and more as of late, and the dual memories that fill our head are proving it difficult to function. Our bodies have become morphed into weird forms due to the amount of power in them, and it hurts to do many actions both with and without our power._

_Today while on our daily walk, brother and I argued over getting home, and he howled that I was giving up. He could no longer live with two lives in his mind, and to my horror he threw himself over the cliffside, where I watched his body hit the rocks and slide into the ocean. Had he been in his original form, he would have survived, but here we are mortal...and now alone._

_The warriors all gathered for his funeral. They seemed to like him, even if he was crazy. I still have not seen the missing warrior yet. Perhaps he is dead like brother._

_Goodbye Crazy. I miss you. I'm sorry._

_Day ?_

_Pain. it EverYwhere. CanNOT SLEEP or eAt or WalK WItHout cANe. FeeL OLd. HaRd to Wright wel. Trie mor tomoro._

_Da ?_

_Neeed powar. MuST FiNd wai too go on. CaNNOT dye now. WilL Not b liek Brother. I Am a god I am Master hand I will livE._

_Day ?_

_I have created a drug for myself, one that keeps me docile and prevents me from having two memories in my mind. Today I have come up with a plan. I will lead this Mansion, but I will do so as someone other than myself. Master Hand is dead. Today I am Dr. Main._

_Already I have begun to administer my drug to the warriors here, and I have given some to some of the lesser warriors. They will become part of my plan. The warriors will lose their old memories the longer they take the drug. In a few years they will forget that they had any lives outside of these walls._

_I will make this a place Crazy would be proud of. It will be a prison of sorts, for I will make the warriors doubt their lives. I will wipe their old lives from their minds and give them memories I have created. The drugs will allow them to keep thinking the memories I want them to think. I have reduced them to nothing more than murderers and insane beings. It does not make me sad- on the contrary, I enjoy toying with their minds._

_I am in control._

_Year ?_

_Today I allowed the Mansion to become an insane asylum. It has deteriorated over the years, but is still in a livable condition. The people on the mainland fear us. Good. It makes me feel good to know I have control._

_Everyone is now fully drugged. Even the woman who gave me the ill-fated star now works under me. I with my brother could see the mansion of smashed minds I have created._

_Year ?_

_There was a rebellion today. A group of patients had stopped taking their drugs and rebelled against me. I killed all but their leader, and used a method I had been perfecting to brainwash him to my side. Now he works as a cook, and believes the false memories I gave him._

_The memories...it seems as though by crossing here, the force of two worlds split our minds and gave us two lives: the one we lived in the old world, and the life we could have lived had we been born in this world._

_Of one thing, I am sure. We are not from this world. We are not meant to be in this world. But I am in control in this world, and I intend to never leave. The only way to leave would be to use the machine, but it will not work. I could use it to merge our two worlds together, but that could be cataclysmic, kill us all- and end my fun._

_No, I intend to stay in control. But if the one warrior ever returns, I will know. I still have my powers, and I will know if he returns with us to this world._

_And when he does return I will make sure he never leaves._

_I am Dr. Main. This is my Mansion now. I am in control._

* * *

David read the last line with shaking hands, as the silence that surrounded his final words devoured him. Sam was frozen in shock, her face pale and with an expression of terror he had never seen before. "Oh my God," she whispered, tears welling in her eyes. "I was right. I knew it. I am Samus Aran."

"Then who am I?" David clutched and rose to his feet, as he rubbed his forehead. "We have to warn Gann- I think Main might do something drastic now that I'm here. We have to warn the Court and tell them they were right. Hurry, we don't have much time."

The reporter picked up the flashlight from the floor, and turned back to Sam- and that was when an icy white hand clutched at his shoulder from behind. "Hello, Mr. Kojima."

David turned as Sam screamed, looked into eyes the color of blood, and felt himself be hit into the back void of unconsciousness once more.

 


	11. Memories

Chapter Eleven: Memories

Pain- it was everywhere, streaking across his body in a searing kiss and wrapping him in fiery chains. David was awoken by this extreme pain with a gasp, and a subsequent struggle to refill his lungs with air. As his back arched in a spasm, he found himself unable to move due to two pairs of metal restraints on his ankles and wrists. Both bound him to a metal table that felt unnaturally hot to him, and a harsh white light shone in his face above him, robbing him of his ability to see where he was and what was going on. This was more terrifying than the pain, for he had no idea what was happening to him or where he was being held. For the first time, he was truly lost.

As the searing pain faded into a slow burn, a velvety voice came from somewhere in the room. "Ah lovely, you're awake. It seems as though you respond with ease to my electric treatment. I suppose that means I can experiment a little."

 _Miles._  Images of blood-red eyes flashed through David's head as he choked out, "Sam...What have you done with her?"

"Don't fret, Mr. Kojima, your dear girl is fine. She already had a session with me today, as you well know. Now I believe it's your turn...or at least the good Master thinks so."

"You bast-aaaaahgh!" The electric current sizzled again through his body, and David grit his teeth to keep from biting his tongue from pain.

"Torture is a marvelous thing, Mr. Kojima," the albino continued almost wistfully. "It creates a bond in a way, a bond between the weak and the strong. Here the weak become strong, and the strong are broken to the point where nothing will fix them. Main taught me these things when he took me under his wing, and since then I have become strong from the pain of others. Enjoy yourself, Mr. Kojima. There is no need to fight this until you have learned your lesson."

"Listen, Main isn't who you think he is! He's using you for something he doesn't want anyone else to-aaaaagh!"

The electric currents grew stronger, and the light began to slowly fade from the reporter's vision as pain clouded every part of him. Mile kept the same, dry tone however, oblivious of the struggles taking place. "Ah, so you went into the Master's documents. Tell me, if the patient's beliefs that we all live different lives are true, then who are you?"

"I...I don't know."

"Ach, such a pity. That's the saddest part of this whole fiasco then: everyone knows who they are...except for you."

"Do you really know who you are?"

"Of course: I'm Miles Tibbins, the chef here at the Mansion."

For a second, a feeling of pity swept over David. The man, whoever he had been before, had been brainwashed by Main into blindly following the Master. "No, you're more than that. We all are more than that."

"'We'?" A hacking cough came from Miles, as more pain overwhelmed David with an even stronger force. "There is no 'we'- you are nothing more than a meddlesome reporter who can't keep his nose out of other people's business."

"Open your eyes, Miles! You're sick for a reason, because you're not used to this body! You and the other doctors and nurses take drugs every day to keep you under Main's control! He's using you!"

"Shut up!" Miles screamed in rage as a scream left David, who could no longer contain his reaction to the pain. "You are  _nothing_ , David Kojima!  _NOTHING!"_

 _No,_ David thought to himself as his body trembled, and then fell slack against his restraints. He closed his eyes, seeking an escape from the pain, and sought out the black void that welcomes him with open arms. Was this death? It didn't feel like he had died, but the pain had gone for now.  _Who am I?_  He asked himself, as he let his thoughts float out amid the blackness around him.  _If I was one of the people here originally, then why don't I remember who I am? I have to be someone- all the patients seem to think I am!_

Slowly, he sought out the conversation he had been a part of over the past weeks, letting the voices flow through his mind and wrap him in the darkness.

_At one point, David, you were one of us..._

_You fought for your friends..._

_Be careful, David..._

_Honor above all else..._

_You, David Kojima, are the key...let your instincts guide you..._

The last rumble of Gann's words echoed through the mind of the reporter, and suddenly he knew why the answers were so hard to find: he had been seeking them, when the only thing he had to do was let them come to him. The answers always came to him after all, and his instinct had merely nudged him and his curiosity towards them. So now to find the answers, he would have to do one thing...stop searching.

So David relaxed, letting his body take each shock without resistance, and with each burst of electricity, a memory made the door of his past life crumble bit by bit.

_A snowy courtyard, where he stood with a gun, as a guard approached from the opposite end..._

_A room of torture, where he struggled to keep himself from spilling secrets to the enemy..._

_Machines of terrifying power, rows and rows of them, all gleaming with murderous intent..._

_A humid jungle, where he hid himself amid the canopy of trees, gun fixed on a soldier below..._

_Faces, names, stories he hadn't heard in years: Otacon, Meryl, Raiden, Revolver Ocelot, Liquid...the last one was another memory of him fighting the man named Liquid. It was almost as if he was fighting kin..._

_Other memories of more recent times, of Sam and Gann, of the other patients in various forms fighting a great evil, of himself glowing with a magnificent light as he struck a blow to the evil force..._

_A mansion, a place that radiated beauty and peace, that looked eerily similar to the Mansion he had been in..._

The pieces of his life came together at last, twisting and turning to form a complete puzzle. His mind was restored, with both lives lying side by side in his head- if he could smile, he would.

 _I know who I am,_  he thought.

_I am David Kojima, fighter soldier and hero._

_Yet I once went by another name to my friends, my codename that I always used._

_I am Solid Snake._

The pain he had felt moments before was nothing to him now- far worse things had happened to him before this. The metal restraints seemed flimsy, and it only took a tug to snap them from the table. He didn't feel stronger, but he knew that the power and techniques that he had learned as a soldier had returned after being buried for so long inside his head. David wasted no time snapping open his eyes and swinging off the table, escaping the gaze of the blinding white light and throwing himself into darkness. It didn't take long for his eyes to adjust, but he could still make out the sharp, nearly silent intake of breath from Miles...and that was the direction he struck in.

His motions were lightning fast, but Miles was ready for the soldier. The albino weaved to the side and slapped David's fist away, delivering a stinging punch to the side of his opponent's head in the process. The sudden attack spun David around and into a table of tools, sending them clattering to the floor in a clashing of sound. There was no time to catch his breath, for Miles was upon him with another punch to his jaw that made David see stars. The soldier responded with a kick to Miles' stomach, eliciting a gasp that was cut short by David's furious yell as he tackled him at the waist, using his own body weight to drive him to the ground. They landed in a pile of limbs and fists, each grabbing and punching at whatever they could see in the darkness. Somehow, David got the upper hand in the chaos, and delivered a facial blow to the already bleeding Miles. He was about to strike again when he saw his opponent tense, making the blood that sung in his ears order him to pull back. Breathing heavily, David grumbled "Miles, it doesn't have to be like this. Main-"

"Is a good man!" Males spat out a wad of blood and fixed David with angry red eyes. "He took me in when no one else would."

"That life is a lie!" David hit Miles, making him howl in rage. "He brainwashed you! Can't you see that something is wrong? Haven't you wondered why you and Main seem so sick? It's because these bodies are not the ones you are used to!"

"That's crazy!"

"Well we're all crazy then! Yet that doesn't mean we're wrong!" More memories flashed through David's mind, of who Miles was in his past life. "Miles, you don't remember who you were, but you and I were similar. We both were created to be weapons; we both rejected that in order to control our own fate. Maybe you realized that when you stopped taking your drugs originally- maybe that's why you tried to kill Main in the first place, because you didn't want to be held under control again. In the end though, you still fell back under his control...except this time it cost you the lives of your friends."

The albino blinked in surprise, and in his blood-red eyes David saw the flicker of remembrance. He relaxed his grip and let the former cook scramble free, and watched in silence as he let out a shuddering cry and curled up unexpectedly into a ball. "Oh God," he sobbed, "Oh my God, it's my fault they died. I led them to their deaths! Roy, Young Link, Pichu- they're all gone because I was so stupid and so self-absorbed!" He shook his head after a moment, and then looked to David, his face smeared with blood and tears. "I was such a fool."

"No, you did the right thing. Main just got the better of you."

"Main...damn him," he responded in a whisper. "He has to pay."

"That's what I intend on making him do", David replied. "Come with me, Miles. There's still a chance to right your wrongs and avenge your friends, but we have to go right now to stop Main from hurting anyone else."

With shaking shoulders, Miles met the soldier's gaze and silently nodded. "You're right. I may have let my friends down once, but I'm not going to do it again." Shambling to his feet, he stuck out a hand and helped David up. "You know, I remember you now. You always wanted to be called Snake."

"David is my real name. I'm still getting used to these memories, so just call me that for now."

"Alright then, follow me, David. Time to get out of here." Miles moved rapidly to the door, opening it and throwing David's vision back into the light of the second floor hall. It was still nighttime outside as they raced to the stairs, and David hesitated before asking, "How long has it been since you found me in the library?"

"An hour at most- it'll be morning in a few hours. I just hope we're not too late to help Sam-er, Samus."

"Better hurry then." Suddenly a strange fact hit David, and he couldn't help but laugh despite the situation.

"What's so funny?"

"I'm not wearing glasses, and yet I can see everything just fine."

"Perhaps it's because you finally know who you are- we don't have time to question it though, unfortunately. Quickly, we're almost there."

The two raced down the stairs and to the oak doors of Main's office, no longer caring about secrecy or stealth as they busted through the unlocked doors...and froze.

Everything was normal in Main's office, but standing in the moonlight that spilled from the windows were four figures, which had been facing the Master's desk until the dramatic entrance. David immediately recognized the pale form of Rosalina, and to his relief saw that she was restraining Sam (who looked at David with a mix of shock and joy). However, he saw that Dr. Isaac Soloro was also there, and was retaining a patient of his own- Zelda, who regarded his arrival with a small smile.

"Ah, David Kojima," Main's cold voice came from the shadowy chair he occupied, "Lovely of you to join us. We've been expecting you."

"You." David wanted to run over and slug Main out of his chair, but he kept himself in check as he moved to the middle of the room, Miles drifting behind him in silence. "The game is up, Main. I read your journal, I know your secrets, and now I know the elaborate lie you've been blinding us with. It's over."

"On the contrary, Mr. Kojima, it's only just begun," came the sly response. "I see though you've uncovered your memories at long last however. Perhaps Samantha here was right after all."

Hearing her name made Sam attempt to struggle free. "Oh I'll show you just how right I was, you son of a bi-"

"Hush!" Rosalina shook the girl she held captive. "Don't bring more punishment to yourself."

Main seemed not to take notice of Sam's outburst, and instead continued onward. "Either way, I still have the advantage- especially now. You see, I've been watching the patients for some time, and I believe I have finally tracked down someone I've been  _very_  eager to meet. Isn't that right, Zelda? Or should I say... _the Raven_?"

Zelda ignored the stares and gasps and merely chuckled. "As I have already told you, I am not the Raven. I merely speak on behalf of the true Raven."

"Lies!" Soloro was red in the face as he glared at his captive patient. "You just don't want to tell us the truth! You have to be the Raven- the Master has seen you acting suspiciously before, especially since David has arrived! Your room was the one right next to his before we moved you- it has to be you!"

"You are a fool, Isaac. I am nothing more than the main messenger for the Raven. I serve on the Court with others, but I have never taken the name of the Raven while here."

"Then you know who really is the Raven!"

"No, I don't. No one does."

Silence settled in and made itself comfortable, until Main ripped it to shreds with a venom-filled whisper. "Well then, if you refuse to tell us, I'll make you tell me. Miles, take her to the restraint room. I'll deal with her  _personally_."

"No!" The albino snarled at the command. "I'm not obeying you anymore! You're done playing your tricks on me!"

David could feel the hatred and fury radiating from Main's chair, and he spoke up in a cold voice. "Listen to me Main, it's over. You're done controlling people- you've had your fun, but now it's time to face reality. The only thing your thirst for power has given you is a mortal body and the death of your brother, not to mention incredible pain at having two lives clashing inside your head." He didn't know where the words were coming from, but they flowed from his tongue like water. "Let this end now, before anyone else gets hurt. We all trusted you once before, and we all know people make mistakes. Now's your chance to make up for that mistake you made all those years ago. Please Dr. Main...Master Hand...let us go home."

Something about David's words seemed to his Main especially hard, for his voice was nothing more than a whisper as he stuttered "I...I..."

Suddenly, before anyone could react, the sound of a gunshot echoed through the room.


	12. To The Edge

Chapter Twelve: To The Edge

The sharp crack of the gunshot banished away whatever Main was about to say, and time seemed to slow to a crawl. David didn't flinch at the sound like the others did, but turned slowly to stare at the source of the noise that made his ears ring.

Zelda gave a small, sharp gasp, as she shakily looked down at the blooming red stain spreading through her blue pajamas at her abdomen. She did her best to remain calm however, as she tilted her head back to look at Isaac Soloro, who still kept a firm grip on her arm despite the gun in his other hand. "Why?" she whispered softly, a note of pain entering her voice and causing it to crack.

"Because I am tired," Soloro replied grimly, "of not getting answers."

"Then you are a bigger fool than I realized," Zelda rasped. Her shaking knees gave out at that moment and she crumpled to the floor, as the growing tide of blood began to seep onto the floor.

Rosalina stared at the brunette patient's body as the life was slowly bleeding out of her, and as if he had read her mind, Isaac turned the gun on both her and Sam. "Don't move," he growled with a cold look in his eyes. "You can't save her, no matter how good of a nurse you are. She'll bleed out before you even have time to pull out a bandage."

"Isaac, what are you doing?" Main had a tone of bewilderment buried in the creak of his voice, as if he couldn't understand what was happening in his office.

"Isn't it obvious, Main? I'm finished with being in the dark about everything. Now I'm only doing what needs to be done." The head doctor pointed the gun at the back of his master's chair. "You are frail and pitiful, paranoid and useless, and all you do is worry over the Raven and yet find nothing about who it is." Lowering his voice to a deadly murmur, Isaac continued, "Zelda was once again just a piece of the puzzle- she was as useless as Peach was. Once again you've guessed wrong...and now I'm tired of being wrong."

"Isaac-"

"Don't! Don't defend yourself, Main, or I swear I'll shoot you just like I did with her! What would happen then, hm? Your lovely little plan, banished by a single bullet...would everything cease to exist? Would we have to keep giving everyone drugs day in and day out? You're just as insane as the others here, and I cannot believe it took me years to realize that, that we are all being led by a complete madman."

"Isaac." David didn't know how he managed to speak in the tough moment, but his voice wormed its way into the tense atmosphere. "Put down the gun."

Dr. Soloro chuckled low in his throat, and shook his stiff blond hair. "Ah Mr. Kojima- I knew you were going to be trouble when I first saw you here. You have that troubling gleam in your eye, the kind that signifies you're too curious for your own good. I thought you were the Raven once, on the night I discovered you at the site of Lynn's death, but I wasn't completely wrong. You have to be working for the Raven, because you're just as crazy as the rest of the others here. All of you speak of 'other lives' and 'another world', but that is nothing more than madness."

"How can you deny it when you've seen what you were before-?"

"Lies!" Soloro screamed, making the others jump as he flipped the gun to face David with a shaking hand. "I know they're lies! That's why I have learned to suppress those traitorous memories, because they're nothing more than lies. Everyone here lies to me, hides from me, and I am  _done_  with it. I am in control now, I'm the leader here...in fact, I should start by killing all of you, starting with you first, Mr. David Kojima."

Sam made a shocked sound in the back of her throat, and the light of realization flickered dully in Isaac's murderous eyes. "No...Wait, I have an even better idea."

"Don't you dare!"

At that moment, as David made a move to take down Isaac- regardless of the gun in his hands- several things occurred in rapid succession, beginning with Soloro violently shoving David out of the way. The reporter crashed to the ground and felt his head smack the floor as someone screamed. There was the sound of wood grinding against stone, and a subtle click as something snapped into place, then the pounding beat of footsteps and muffled curses resounded before fading into the distance. His head ached from where it had made contact with the floorboards, but David forced himself to raise it with a groan. Blinking back the white spots dancing before his eyes, he blindly asked "What just happened?"

Miles let out an angry curse, having been knocked over the back of the couch in the confusion. "Soloro took off with Sam- when I tried to stop him, he shoved me out of the way before I could even act."

 _Oh, not Sam,_  David thought as his shock was overcome by fury. He rose to his feet slowly, eyes fixed on Main's desk as he uttered, "Main, see what you-" A shocked gasp broke his words in two as he noticed that Main's leather chair was turned to face him...and was completely empty. "Where the hell did he go?!"

"He escaped," came a quiet murmur, as Rosalina quietly lifted herself off of the floor. "There's a hidden passage under his desk that he installed, in the event he couldn't leave the office. I was never told where it goes, but he's probably locked it from the other side by now."

"Damn." David stared once more at the chair, then at the nurse. "Did he hurt you?"

"Soloro? No, he shoved me to get to Sam." Bitterness entered her voice as she added, "I didn't think Isaac would do such a terrible thing."

"It...Will only end...when Main is dealt with."

In the chaos, David had forgotten about the first of Soloro's victims, who still managed to somehow cling to life. Rosalina swooped down beside Zelda, ignoring the fact that she was kneeling in a growing pool of the woman's own blood. "Sssh," she comforted the woman, "It's alright."

"I'm sorry," Zelda coughed, drawing up fresh blood and staining her lips and face a dark red, "I knew serving the Raven...would have its consequences." Her head rotated to look straight into David's eyes, as her gasping breaths became more labored. "Not so long ago I told you ...that you would one day make a choice, David Kojima. I knew...I knew that somehow you were one of us, and the Raven knew too. It is why they made me act...made me try to guide you. It is nearly time for you to choose- to choose just what and who you are. Go. Stop Soloro. Find the Court and put an end to Main's madness...and return us home." Faintly, she smiled, and her voice dulled to merely a whisper. "Can you hear that? I hear a song, once carried on the breeze of my homeland...a song a young boy would play, a song that lulled me to sleep when I was just a girl...a song of hope."

With a shuddering breath, the light faded from Zelda's eyes, and she lay still and silent. No one moved for a moment as the solemn beauty of her last words hung between them all, until Rosalina choked out in an emotion-filled voice, "She was right. You have to stop Soloro before he causes any more harm."

"But Main-"

"Main can wait. Your friend is in danger, and right now, she needs  _you_. Do what has to be done, but make sure he pays for his actions."

The nurse wouldn't look up from Zelda's body, but David could see the streaks of tears escalating down her face. "I can't guarantee he'll listen to reason. But I know that Zelda didn't deserve to die like this, and neither does Sam. I can't promise to obey Zelda's wishes...but I'll do what needs to be done."

Motioning to Miles, David began to stride out of the office, but a quiet statement from Rosalina made him freeze halfway out the door. "You know, I remember you, David Kojima. I remembered you on the first day I met you." He turned to give her a questioning glance as she gathered herself upright, her uniform stained red and standing out against her nearly-white hair. "You are the only one capable of stopping Main- you haven't been weakened by his drugs like the rest of us have."

"Why didn't you say something the first day?"

"You wouldn't have believed me if I told you the truth about this place. Now, go, save your friend...and please, come back alive."

David didn't have to be told twice. With a nod, he raced out of the room along with Miles, leaving the bloodstained nurse alone with only her thoughts and the still figure of Zelda.

* * *

The front door of the Mansion was wide open, letting in a bitter chill from the still-dark land outside, which was slowly becoming visible as the daylight hinted at its arrival. Rather than head outside, however, David veered off towards the sunroom, making Miles cry out in surprise. "Wait! What are you doing?!"

The reporter paid no attention to his companion as he pushed open the sunroom doors, casting light onto the still silhouette of Gann standing by the windows. The giant turned and stiffened in surprise as David announced, "Gann, we need your help."

Gann's dark eyes narrowed and his meaty fists clenched. "I see Miles is with you. Has he changed sides, or he is still working as Main's pawn?"

"No, he's changed...I've changed too."

Understanding dawned in the giant, as he regarded David in a new perspective. "Ah, I see it now- you carry yourself differently than before. There is more strength in your walk and attitude. You found out who you really are...but what of the third floor?"

"The Raven and Sam were right all along: Main confused our memories with his drugs, and I somehow didn't end up with the rest of you when he performed his experiment that brought you all here."

"I knew it," Gann softly muttered to himself, then asked, "But where is Sam now?"

"That's why we need your help. Sam and I were captured, and she was brought to Main's office by Dr. Soloro. But Soloro snapped, killed Zelda, and took off with Sam...and we need your help to get her back."

The giant looked at both men, and David could see that he was stunned that Zelda had been taken from the world. Then, he turned back to the window in a cold move. "You shouldn't have come here- I can't help you, and I certainly cannot help Sam."

"What? No, we need you to help!"

"You're the one who should help her, not me. I'm no hero, David."

"You're not a villain either," David muttered, as he stepped further into the room and right up to Gann, to stare him straight in his ice-cold eyes. "You might have been back before you came here, and you've haven't always done the acceptable thing, but when I look at you I don't see a villain. I see someone who doesn't question what they have to do, who helps people no matter the consequences, and who knows how to act and take charge in tough situations. That doesn't sounds like a villain to me."

"I can't change who I am-"

"Of course you can- Main did, Miles did, hell, even I did! You still can make amends for your past, Gann."

Gann uttered not a word, but turned and took a long look at David. "Do you know who I was before, Mr. Kojima?"

"...I do now: you were Ganondorf, a force of great evil, reborn time after time to oppose the light of the world."

"...and you think I can change despite all of that?"

"I'm sure of it."

A gigantic green-gray hand grasped David's shoulder. "I was wrong about you, David," Gann rumbled. "I told you that you weren't a hero...but now I see you truly are. I will help you, and Sam. I know this won't make up for the things I have done...but I hope it means something in the end. Now, lead the way. It is time to give Soloro exactly what he deserves."

* * *

The cold bite of the outside air dug into David's bones, wrapping their icy fingers into his very soul as the three men dashed outside. Plumes of their breath could barely be seen in the approaching daylight, but the misty before dawn atmosphere gave them enough vision to see the footprints scattered in the mud. Gann kept himself from cursing aloud in anger as he spoke up, "We need to follow these- he can't have gotten too far!"

"Why did he even go out here?" David wondered aloud, being careful not to trip over the occasional rock as he picked his path over the hills, following the murderer's footsteps.

"He's trying to lure us out," Miles realized. "Isaac wants us to play his little game."

Suddenly, David cried out, for near one of the nearby rocky edges stood a figure. The three dashed to meet him, but stopped a few feet away, as Soloro regarded them balefully. He held a gun to the shaking, wide-eyed head of Sam, and a waxy grin eclipsed his usual stoic features. The bandages on his bruised nose made him look even more chaotic than usual, and a nosebleed had apparently started, for a small drop of blood was halfway between his nose and lip. No one moved, giving the doctor a chance to yell above the sound of crashing waves, "So, it has come to this, has it?"

Sam locked eyes with David, and in them he saw not fear, but anger. He sighed inwardly at her courage, but merely said aloud, "It doesn't have to be this way."

"Oh Mr. Kojima," Isaac clucked in mock sympathy, "I'm afraid it does have to end this way. The game is up. Nothing can be trusted- after all, everything I've heard is wrong."

"Main lied to you, Isaac," said Miles. "But all we want is to go home, and to feel like ourselves again. We won't lie to you."

"Oh, I know Main is a liar. He had me and the other members of the staff take his drugs at the very beginning, but I never questioned it. I was always the most loyal member of his staff, and that loyalty earned me  _nothing_!"

Soloro yelled the last word and made Sam jump slightly, which the doctor noticed. "Shhh, he cooed, tracing the muzzle of the gun over the bruises and angry red cuts on her face. "Look at this- you're finally in your place. You always made things so difficult, but now you won't have to anymore."

"Don't you dare hurt her!"

"Oh shut up, Kojima- what's she to you anyway?" Isaac fixed David with a cruel, punishing glare as he continued. "Who do you think you are anyway? Some kind of soldier? Well, why don't we see what you really are, right now." Keeping a grip on the bounty hunter, the doctor placed the gun on the ground and kicked it over to David, while moving closer to the cliff edge. "Shoot me then, if you think you can do it."

The gun felt cold and alien in David's hands, but somewhere in the back of his mind, a feeling of familiarity set in. He had done this before, held a gun to some crazed madman, only he had done so as Solid Snake. Here, he was hesitant to shoot this man, hesitant to operate a small object with such dire consequences. If he missed, he could end up hurting Sam, or have Dr. Soloro hurt her if he didn't act.

The familiar wolfish smile glittered on Isaac's face, as he sensed the indecision. "Having second thoughts already, are we, Soldier-Boy?"

Wordlessly, thumb shaking slightly, David pulled back the safety.

Isaac did not seem to mind the ominous sound- if anything, he relished it. "So I was right," he hissed triumphantly, noting the shaking hands of the former spy. "You are just like the others, believing in something you cannot prove. You're weak."

"David," Gann managed to mutter above the angry sounds of the waves, "give me the gun. I have no problem putting him down."

Although before he would have happily complied, David knew that this test was meant for him alone, and that he had to pass. Sam stared him down in silence, but her eyes begged for him to shoot, even if he ended up hurting her in the process. Yet, he didn't feel right taking the life of another man...but Soloro had murdered Zelda. He was vicious and a murderer, and he would do such callous acts again and again unless someone stopped him, whether by killing him or making him see the error in his ways. "It doesn't have to be like this. We can help you- we want to defeat Main, and it seems like you do too. There's no reason for this."

" _Shut up!"_  The doctor screamed, his eyes wild with fury. "You are no soldier, or spy, or hero- you're just a reporter who can't keep his nose out of places where it doesn't belong! You and everyone else on this damn island are crazy, and I'm the only sane one left." A bubble of laughter billowed out of his chest, as he continued to scream, "You are weak, just like Main! You don't even have the guts to-"

_Bang!_

Soloro stopped laughing with a choked cry, as he jerked forward. His grasp on Sam fell away, allowing her to scramble away from the edge of the cliff face and behind David. The doctor fell weakly to his knees and looked at the blossoming spot of red just around his right shoulder, then looked back to David and his still smoking gun. "You..." he whispered, fear tinting his words, "You really..."

"Believe me, Isaac," David replied in a deadly rumble, "I have the guts."

They stared at each other for another second, and then Isaac collapsed face down with a groan and sigh. David immediately dropped the gun, feeling an overwhelming emptiness swallowing him up inside. He had killed a man- an unstable, terrible man, but a human being all the same. Even if he had killed people in his previous life, here it was something he was unfamiliar with.

Slowly, as if he was emerging from a long sleep, he sensed the others around him were talking. "Did he hurt you, Sam?"

"No, he just dragged me out here- I think his plan was to toss me over the...hey, is David alright?

"David." The familiar massive fist landed on his shoulder, and David didn't have to turn to see who it was, but did anyway. The giant could be barely seen in the little light, but loomed over him almost menacingly. "You did what had to be done."

"I know, but it feels so wrong..."

"Yet you will still need to take care of Main. Think about that. This will have to be done again...and you cannot hesitate or let your conscious get the better of you if you must act."

The giant was right: this would not be the last time he would have to make a choice. Zelda had said it before, and so had the Raven. More choices lay ahead, and they would not cease until Main was taken care of. He had no choice but to embrace his previous life, and carry on, bearing his burdens and making use of all he had learned while at the Mansion. That was the only way.

He sighed, and under his breath quietly remarked, "You're right. I've taken the plunge...now it's time to see what happens next."

David turned around to walk back to the others, but at that moment Miles and Sam both let out a horrified cry. He heard an enraged snarl from behind him, and before he could react, he whirled about to see Soloro rushing at him, covered in his own blood. He held a syringe in his one hand, filled to the brim with Main's cocktail of choice, and at that second David glimpsed the true fires of insanity in Isaac's eyes.

Time seemed to stop. All sound rushed out as the doctor drew near.

Suddenly, David was pushed to the side by Gann, who rushed past him to meet Dr. Soloro head-on as a bellow of rage unleashed himself from his chest. He enveloped the doctor in a vice-like hug, pushing him backwards away from David and not stopping, even as he was stabbed again and again by the syringe held by his victim. Isaac howled in animalistic fury, and in that fleeting second David glimpsed a new feeling in Gann's eyes- the feeling of freedom, and of sacrifice. Then, the two were thrown together over the edge of the island, suspended for a moment in the balance between life and inevitable death, before they tumbled to the rocks below and were forever claimed by the sea.


	13. The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are at last. The final act. The last tale of David Kojima, Samantha Aran, Dr. Main, and the rest of these smashed minds. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the last chapter.
> 
> Well, technically we still have the epilogue. Oh well. Anyways, enjoy.

Chapter Thirteen: The End

"No!"

An anguished scream was seemingly torn out of Sam, who rocketed towards the cliff only to be held back by David. "No! Let me go!"

"Sam, he's...he's gone." David's voice felt to him as if it came from miles away, and he hardly noticed Sam struggling to break free of the iron grasp he held on her arms. "It's already too late."

"We can still help him- he could survive that! He can't be dead from that, David- he's too strong! Please, let me go! I can dive in and save him, just let me-"

"Samus, listen to me!" The rational mind of a soldier suddenly roared to life, as David shook Sam slightly, making her fall silent. He attempted to keep his voice steady as he slowly spoke. "He just sacrificed himself for all of us, so that Soloro wouldn't hurt anyone else, and so that we can stop Main. Gann was always doing what needed to be done, and he proved his worth with one last act. I...I can't believe he's gone either, but we  _have_  to keep going, especially since time is running short. I think it's what he would have wanted...I'm sorry."

There was a hollow look in Sam's eyes as she looked back at the cliff, then at David, and then lowered her head in a single moment of grief. "He promised me," she muttered, "that we would go home together. He believed in me, he was my friend...and now he's left me like everyone else has."

"Sam, we are going to get home, I promise. I don't know how, but I swear that somehow I'll find a way for everyone to get home together. No one is getting left behind again."

She refused to look at him, but she nodded and swallowed back her grief. "Alright." Something seemed to suddenly come to her mind, and she quietly laughed. "Main said you remember who you are now. Is it true?"

"I think so. I remember you, actually- who you used to be. You were-"

Sam held up a hand. "No, I don't want to know. Not until Main is taken care of. You can just tell me when this is all over, when Main's dealt with, and when we found a way to go home."

For what felt like the first time in forever, David felt himself smile. "Deal."

Miles, who had been relatively quiet up until that point, spoke up. "I hate to interrupt, but I believe it may be best to return to the Mansion and seek out Main."

David let go of Sam and turned to face the albino man. "Right. I don't know what he's up to, but we need to stop it, and fast. We should head back to the Mansion- I have a feeling that's where the answers lie for us."

So the three began to make their way back to the Mansion, picking up the pace as the sun slowly began to rise on what could be the final day for all on that island.

* * *

Much to David's surprise, the entrance hall inside the Mansion was busier than he had expected it to be, especially this early in the morning. The nurses and doctors had apparently rounded up all the patients, for the doors to the sunroom were open, giving David a glimpse at them milling about in confusion. As he, Sam, and Miles entered, they spotted Rosalina talking quietly to one of the nurses, but dismissed her as she spotted the trio and came to greet them. David noticed that she still wore her bloodstained uniform, but no look of grief or horror occupied her eyes. It was as if she had pushed the recent events to the back of her mind, in order to keep her courage and collected state afloat.

She seemed to know immediately what had happened to Isaac by the look in the group's eyes, but she didn't seem surprised. "So Dr. Soloro...?"

"He was stopped by Gann," Sam said, her voice surprisingly strong despite the magnitude of the words she carried.

This revelation caught Rosalina off guard, as she raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Gann? Oh my. He was always a quiet patient...but it seems as though whatever he was guilty of has been washed away by his actions."

"What is going on with the patients?" David peered past her at the sunroom in curiosity. "Did Main order this?"

"No, I did. Main hasn't been seen since Zelda...well, no one's seen him. Yet if he truly plans on doing something, it may be best to have everyone together, just in case."

"So what do we do?"

"...I was hoping you would be able to answer that, David."

The reporter felt the weight of everything suddenly crash onto his shoulders. It had been barely a month since his arrival, and already the world he knew had been turned on its head. Nothing was or would be the same, for there was no longer the warm familiarity that surrounded his life. The captain of the ship that had delivered him to this forsaken island had been right: the islanders had stolen away his sanity. What else could he have lost, after all, if not the only thing that grounded all he had known?

He had come here for a story, and in the end, he had found one- the story of himself. He was the hero; he had grown and discovered so much with the help of those around him. Now, there remained just one last obstacle: the villain of his tale, the chaotic Dr. Main. It was finally time to turn to that page of his adventure, and write the final chapter.

Apparently, however, it wouldn't be the easiest task.

Suddenly, there came from under the floor a deep, rumbling sound, like the growling of a dragon. Everything suddenly began to shake, sending all tumbling down until the vibrations faded away after a few seconds. There were cries of shock from the patients nearby, but it was Miles' voice that David heard above all else. "What the hell was that? Some kind of earthquake?"

"There's never been an earthquake here," Sam countered with a hint of snark.

Rosalina, however, remained silent, and somehow her face had grown even paler than usual. "I know what that is," she whispered in disbelief. "That's what happened right before Main started up his machine that brought us here. He's...he's turned it on again."

"Then we really don't have much time." David rose to his feet, and looked to Sam without hesitation. "Sam, you are a member of the Starling Court, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I need to talk to the Raven."

No one responded to that simple statement for what felt like eternity. "David," Sam answered, "you can't...you can't exactly do that."

"Why not?"

"Because nobody knows who the hell the Raven is!" Sam waved her arms wildly in sweeping gestures as she continued, "Whoever the Raven is has  _always_  dealt in secrecy. The only person who knew who the Raven was Zelda-she'd get messages and things from it. Since she'd dead, we're screwed! Why do you even need to talk to the Raven anyways?"

"I think the Raven knows what we need to do," came the reply, "and I need to ask it something."

Sam hesitated, as if struggling to not argue with him, then let out a long sigh. "I can summon the other Starling Court members together, but we cannot talk to the Raven. If it helps, it might work if you go to the place where they always talked to you, and see if you get a response."

Nodding, the reporter looked at the others, "What about-"

"I'll help the patients," Miles quickly answered. "This is your fight, David...I have done all I can."

"I will check Main's office for anything that might tell us where the machine is," Rosalina also added in. "It sounds like it came from within the island, so perhaps there's some tunnels underneath us leading to it. You go talk to whomever- we'll handle the other things."

The three went their separate ways without another word, leaving David alone in the center of the hall. He looked around at the old Mansion, and couldn't help but feel a pang of familiarity. Had he once called this place home? It seemed as if it had seen better days...but it felt to him like he had lived here forever. As he climbed up the stairs, a chuckle escaped him. Never in his wildest dreams would he have called a horrific place like this his home, but now he saw the beauty in its madness. It was chaos at its purest level, but like him, it held deeper secrets at its core. You could dig deeper and disturb them, or just admire their toxic pull on your curiosity. Whatever the case, one thing could be said- the truth, however terrifying or crazy, was there.

David entered his room, noting that everything was still in its place from where he had left it the night before. A small smile lifted the corners of his mouth as he spotted his journal and glasses on his bed. He tried on the frames, but found that they made his vision blurry, and set them on his backpack instead. Turning his attention to his journal, he flipped carefully through its dog-eared pages, gazing at the slow spiral of progress he had recorded in his time here. Once he had been so lost and naive...how could he be that man again? Yes, he was still driven by curiosity, but he didn't feel the same about it anymore. Who was he- Snake? David? A mixture of both? It was hard to tell, but he knew that whoever he was, he still had the strength, courage, and drive to investigate.

_Tap. Tap tap tap. Tap. Tap._

That familiar sound echoed through the room, emanating from the wall. David translated the now familiar code in his head.  _Welcome back, David Kojima._

Quickly, he reached for the wall and answered.  _Hello Raven. It has been a while since we spoke._

_It has._

_I know who I am now. You were right about Main too._

_I see. Why have you asked for me, David Kojima?_

_There's something I need to know._

_My identity?_

_No._

_Then what?_

_What will happen if Main activates his machine?_

There was a moment of stillness before the next response could be heard.  _There will be a universal catastrophe. Master Hand defied the laws of the universe the first time he attempted to gain power. If he does it again, he would collapse all known universes on top of one another. Everything would cease to exist- nothing can survive the merging of universes on such a massive scale._

_Is there no way for us to go home, then?_

_There is one way, but it requires something._

_What?_

_A sacrifice._

Now it was David's turn to hesitate. _How?_

_Main used the power of the warriors to transport his machine, except one of them was unable to have their powers harnessed before they were taken here- that was you. You were somehow taken out of your old universe in the travel, lost in space and time, and returned to this universe with no memory of your experiences. You thought you had a different life, but you still managed to end up here, on this island, and deep inside you, your power is still available. In order to make the machine return you all to your world, it requires power. However, unlike in your world, the power cannot be collected without harming the individual to who it belongs._

_So in order to return everyone home, I...I have to die._

_Yes._

_Is this the only way?_

_The machine must have power to transport, or else it will explode and the universe will cease to exist._

_Then so be it._

_You would really sacrifice yourself?_

_If it meant returning everyone else home, then yes._

_You are a brave man then, David- braver than I imagined. Nevertheless, Main will try to stop you._

_I will stop him first. It's time he payed for everything he's done._

_Then I have nothing more to say to you._

_Raven, wait. I wanted to say one thing._

_Yes?_

_Thank you._

_Me? For what?_

_I know who you are. It took me a long time, but I figured it out while I was coming to talk to you. Don't feel guilty for what you've done. You were the one who spoke the truth all along- it just took me a long time to realize it._

Once again, there was silence.  _So this is the end then. Godspeed, David Kojima. Go, defeat Main, and put an end forevermore to this place of smashed minds._

* * *

It took a shorter amount of time for David to descend the stairs, but his mind was calmer than before. There was an aura of peace that surrounded him, like a shield protecting him from the angers and fears of the world. Was he sure of his future? No, but he knew that he had a simple task: to stop Main. If he died, it would allow the others to go home- therefore, it was a simple choice to make. He would not hesitate to sacrifice himself, so long as it prevented more deaths.

He made his way to Main's office in a daze, finding the room empty and cold upon his arrival. It had never been the liveliest place, but now the stench of death and depression was impossible to mask. The books were all still in place, but their timid shelves and quiet leather covers could not match the grandeur of the main library. Even the two sofas in the center of the room seemed to shrink at his gaze, as if they expected to be destroyed by their master's anger. The mahogany desk was covered in various papers, and as David approached it, he half expected to find the familiar leather chair occupied. To his disappointment, it was empty, but faced the window as if contemplating the crashing waves. How had Main managed to sit here, day after day, gazing at such a destructive force and knowing he was the same way? The reporter took a brief moment to stare outside at the nearby ocean, watching the sun spread glittering patterns over the crowns of the dark curls of the water. There was a savage beauty in it, a savagery that seemed to disperse throughout the island and the Mansion itself. Chaos within beauty, beauty within chaos- the two were linked here, forever bound together in a dance across time and space.

David turned his attention to the desk of the Master, wondering where the man in question was- if he could even be called a man after everything that had happened. There was only one way to find out, but that path...well, now he knew what lay in wait for him at the end of it. He brushed his fingers on the underside of the desk, feeling the sharp contrast between the smooth outer surface and the rough, almost splintery underbelly. Finally, he found what he was looking for in the form of a small, rounded button, and pressed it inward until he heard a click. Suddenly, there was a grinding sound, as the floor under the desk folded inward, revealing a set of stairs. Smiling in triumph, David moved to duck under the desk and head down, but stopped. Somewhere in the Mansion, Sam and the others had no idea of the mission he was about to partake in... shouldn't he warn them? No, there was no time. This was his mission- it had to be done alone. Shoving the thoughts out of his mind, he knelt down and half-crawled into Main's secret passage.

The tunnel-like structure was narrow and dark, and David silently thanked the fact that he was not claustrophobic. The soldier in his mind gently nudged his reporter-like instincts to the side, as he began to carefully maneuver down the dirt tunnel. It didn't look too stable- nothing seemed to hold up the roof above him, and every once in a while, a light plume of soil escaped to the ground at his feet. The only light came from the office behind him, but that soon faded out, leaving him in utter blackness with only the sound of his level breath for company. He didn't mind the dark or fear getting lost, for after a few minutes he could spot a faint light in front of him. The light grew a bit brighter and larger as he approached, until soon it yawned in front of him, and he stepped from darkness into light, feeling as if he had just been born again.

He had emerged in a cave, much to his surprise- one that seemed massive and brighter than the cave where the Starling Court usually met. Massive stalagmites and stalactites rose and fell towards each other, with their gray-blue color making them look like cobalt teeth. David could faintly hear the sound of waves, but for the most part the cave was silent and empty.

Then he saw it.

In the middle of the dark cave was a pool of water, at least five feet across on either side, and in the middle was a gaping hole. Light could not pierce its yawning jaws, as it seemed to stretch down to the very center of the earth, emitting a faint humming sound in the process. As David stared in curiosity, the noise suddenly increased in pitch and became a wail, and the ground began to shake. David let out a curse as he braced himself, but the shaking ended as quickly as it had come, and the wail returned to a bubbling hum.  _That has to be Main's machine,_  he thought to himself as he gazed suspiciously around the empty cavern.  _Yet if his machine is here, then where is...?_

"Ah, how nice of you to join me, Mr. Kojima. Or should I call you by your  _real_ name now?"

David stepped angrily forward as Main's voice echoed through the room. "Where are you, you coward?" the reporter yelled, hearing his voice bounce furiously off the rocky walls. "You know there's no need to hide anymore!"

"There is always a need to hide," came his hissed reply. "That is the point of secrets- they serve as our personal shields against the outside world. Nothing can touch me so long as I have mine."

"Isaac is dead."

This didn't seem to come as a surprise to Main. "Damn fool. They're all damn fools, you know. Each and every one of them, so unsure of what they believe, but unwavering in their belief that their way is the right way. I pity them. They have no idea of what they truly are, and now they never will."

Time was running short. Any moment now, Main could bring all of creation to a shuddering and sudden stop. "Why, Main? Why would you do something like this? Why the secrets and the lies and the drugs? Why the murders and the ruthlessness? Why destroy the universe?"

"Ah, you have changed, Solid Snake." The name made David take a sharp breath of surprise, as Main darkly continued in an almost slimy voice. "You used to be so quiet, so loyal, never questioning orders, always following through with the plan given to you. Yet, you always were too curious for your own good, weren't you? Do you remember that night, the night that was supposed to be my triumph? You spied on me and my brother- perhaps if it weren't for you, we would have gained immeasurable power. Yes...yes, it must be your fault! YOU are the reason we are here! You're the reason all have died, and the reason why the Raven exists!"

"Your words mean nothing!" David's scream sent Main- whose voice had risen into a yell- into silence. "I have changed, yes, but I have changed to help people. We  _trusted_ you, Master Hand, and all you ended up doing is leading us to this hellhole!"

"Yet I kept you ungrateful scum together! We defeated a great evil, remember? I made sure you were all looked after in our exile here, and how do you repay me? By conspiring against me!"

"You are so blind, Main- it was you who caused all this. It was you...who caused your brother to kill himself."

" _HOW DARE YOU!_  Do you believe me to be a fool? MY brother and I were once gods, but  _now_ the powers we once held are eating away at these delicate forms. Imagine holding the power and fury of a storm, but contained in nothing more than a fragile eggshell."

"It was that same power that caused you to yearn for more! You could never be satisfied with what you had- you always wanted more. Now see what you have done! Not even your brother wanted to strive for what you did, and yet he followed you loyally to his death!"

" _ENOUGH!_ " The machine sent out another shaking moment longer than the original ones this time. "It's too late. The machine is nearly ready; right now, it is harnessing the pure energy of this world. Soon, all the universes will be drawn in by its power -by MY power- and then collapse one on top of another. Nothing will survive. I shall become Death, the giver and the taker of life. My final act will make me the most powerful being in existence."

"Not unless I stop you."

"Ha, and how could you do such a thing? You have lost, David Kojima. Admit your defeat. Comfort your loved ones. I will permit you to leave now, to await your inevitable death."

"You seem to forget," David said softly, ignoring the barbed words of Main, "that I am a soldier...and a soldier must make sacrifices."

Main let these soft words sink in. Then came his angry roar as he realized what David was about to do. " _NO!_ "

A strike came from behind David, bringing its sharp companion known as pain along with it as they paid a visit to his left shoulder. He cursed again in surprise as he fell to his knees, before rolling out of his way as he felt something whiz past him. It was impossible to see who his attacker was or what weapon was being used against him, but whatever had hit him  _hurt_. Main's wheezing laugh filtered through as David looked wildly about for the next attack. "Ah, now you know how it feels to lose control of all your confidence! Are you scared, Snake? Do you know you cannot best me?"

David only smirked. He was a soldier after all- fighting was in his blood. Even if he had misjudged angering Main into confronting him, he still had the upper hand. "One blow does not decide the outcome of a fight, Main."

"Ah, but you have never faced off against someone with power! You have never battled against a  _god_!"

This time, David was hit just below his ribs, and a searing pain shot through his body. He bit back a scream as he felt blood flow from his wound, and instead narrowed his eyes and relaxed his breathing. He knew what he had to do to stop Main. If he had to take Main down while doing so...then so be it. He was ready.

Sensing motion out of the corner of his eyes, David spun out of the way, watched as a ball of light shot past him, and hit the wall with a bang that jarred the bones in his body. If it was Main attacking, he was certainly powerful, just as he had proclaimed himself to be. Yet, he had to get him out of wherever he was hiding, so David leaped to his feet and dashed to the pool and the hole in the ground. If he could get himself inside it, then all the destruction would be ended...

Something heavy slammed into him from the side, forcing him to the ground. A gloved fist flashed before his eyes, and David blocked it without a second thought, earning a cry of pain from his attacker. It provided him a split second glance at his attacker- a small, fragile-looking figure cloaked in black- before he was forced to dodge again from another gloved fist, his feet stepping in the icy-cold waters of the edge of the pool in the process. The figure, breathing heavily, stared him down from a mere few feet away. It was hunched over, back bent in an unnatural curve, and the gloved fists visibly shook with each painful, shuddering breath the figure forced out of its lungs. Yet, there was something else, a barely visible aura of darkness that surrounded its frail form, drawing in David's eyes with the darkly whispered promises of power. This could only be the fallen leader once known as Master Hand, the being who had let greed and paranoia twist him into an unrecognizable force of evil.

"Do you see now, what this world has done to me?" Like a deathbed murmur, Main's hoarse voice emanated from under the hood that obscured his face. "My body has become weak and mortal, and the life-giving power has become a cancer to it. To use my power brings me unimaginable pain, but it is a sacrifice I must bear to stop you and your damned curiosity, Mr. Kojima!"

"Main, I am giving you a chance to stop this. Just turn off the machine now, and we can work something out."

"The time for negotiations is past! Now it is only the eve of destruction- come! Bear witness with me to the end!" A ball of energy manifested in Main's hand, and was sent hurtling at David. It struck him square in the chest, sending him flying backwards, and the world around him spun until finally the ground met him face first with a jarring thud. The pain alone almost sent him tumbling into unconsciousness, as he felt something in his chest crack. The ground felt good for a moment, as it was nice and still and cold, but he was once again sent flying by Main. He landed again, feeling the rocky floor bite into him, and feebly he clutched at a piece of fallen stalactite, sensing the warm blush of blood seep from his palm as he gripped the stone. Main was treating him like his personal ragdoll, flinging him over and over in an attempt to break him- and so far, he was succeeding, as again David felt himself be thrown through the air.

This time he splashed down in the pool of water, just as a mighty rumble came from deep within the earth. The freezing flash of the water jerked his eyes open, as it seemed to increase his pain rather than numb it. Something red ran down his brow into his right eye, but his arms felt too heavy to move and wipe it away. Never before- not as a soldier, nor during his short tenure as a reporter- had he felt like this. The earth continued to rumble and shake as he relaxed his neck, feeling his head hang over the edge of the hole. He was so close, so tantalizingly close...and yet he knew, deep within, that he had failed.

A shadow fell over him, as David heard the crack of falling rocks from within the cave. Again, he felt himself be lifted off his feet, with a dead pressure wrapped around his neck. Forcing his eyes to stay open, he peered down at Main, who held him at eye level and unnaturally steady for a man of his stature. "If only you can see yourself now," Main whispered, in almost pure ecstasy. "You- the great Solid Snake, the soldier who could be any odds- are broken beyond repair. I see in your eyes the cold fires of defeat, the acceptance of death...all your mystery is stripped away now, at the edge of death."

David felt his bloodied lips move, as he struggled to spit out each word. "Yet you are the one who hides behind the shadows now. "

Something about his statement elicited a low growl of a laugh from Main. "They say, David, that the eyes are a window to the soul. If this is true...then I am a soulless man." With this, he threw back his hood with his free hand.

Out of all the things David had seen at the Mansion, nothing could compare to the true face of Main. No hair resided on his globulous head; his ears were mere balls of flesh fused to the sides of it, and where there should have been eyes and a nose and lips was nothing more than a smeared and bloody handprint. It was beyond human, looking like something that had crawled from the darkest part of Hell- like Death itself, in all its disgust and horror.

"Do you see now, why I curse this world? Look at what it has done to me, what it has reduced me to!" Main's voice came from his body somehow, although there was no physical way he could speak. "Look at me.  _LOOK AT ME!_ " He shook David, who flopped limply in reply. "I am twisted and mangled in this body, but yet I am the one who is victorious! I am still a god, and now I am the end of everything! The time has come- this will be the end! But tell me, David, there is something you know that I don't, hmm? Tell me...who among you is the Raven?"

And at that very moment, when there came a deep thrumming sound from within the machine, and everything seemed to be suspended and ready to crash down, David whispered one single sentence.

"It's all of us."

Then...he struck.

His aim was precise and true: the jagged rock in his fist dove deep into Main's chest, tearing through everything as it poked out the other side. Suddenly, everything seemed so silent and still. David felt Main drop him in the water, now clouded with the mixed blood of the fighters, and watched as Main stumbled forward with a gasp. The fallen god hovered at the edge of his machine, and faintly, he murmured, "Crazy...I'm sorry." Then he fell, disappearing over the edge of the precipice and into the core of his machine, returning the creator to the very thing he had created. Just like that, he was gone.

The shaking stopped. Everything returned to silence, and David fought back the creeping blackness at the edges of his consciousness. Had he done it? Had he averted Main's plan by sacrificing Main's power? It had to have worked somehow...

Suddenly, the machine began to hum, increasing in volume until without warning, a bright beam of white light shot out from the hole. It tore through the roof of the cave, shooting upwards in a magnificent display of force as it stretched for the sky. The humming fell again into silence, but a new sound soon replaced it...a sound not unlike a song, carried on a gentle breeze. There was a warmness of the light that invited David in, although he was too weak to do so, and he knew within his heart that he had succeeded. Somehow, they would all be going home.

"David?!  _DAVID?!_ "

There was a splashing sound, and David was rolled over to face a distraught-looking Sam, who looked both relieved and horrified to see him. "What the hell happened?" She asked, her eyes wide and illuminated in the light. "Oh hell, you're hurt!"

"Samus," he murmured weakly, blinking away the tiredness pooling in his body, "why are you here? You...you should be with the others."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "The Starling Court and I were meeting to discuss what to do when we heard the rumbling, and I knew...where's Main? Did you..."

"I did it. Main is dead- this machine is going to take you all back home, to the world we belong in."

"And you too!"

"No, my time is up. I'm done- I've given all I had, like the Raven asked me to."

"Screw the Raven!" Sam spat angrily, fixing him with a glare. "David, you are the one who beat Main, you're the one who we all counted on...you're the one who helped me see I wasn't crazy."

"Sam..."

"Shut up, can't you see I'm yelling at you?" There were the glittering imprints of tears on her cheek as she continued, "David, you're not dying. I'm going to get you back to the Mansion- Rosalina can fix you up, and you'll be right at rain." She choked back a sob and added, "Besides, a soldier doesn't leave his comrades behind."

Weakly, David smiled, letting Sam help him to his feet as he leaned on her, mildly surprised that such a small woman was able to hold his body weight. "I don't even know if this will take us home," he murmured. "For all I know, this will take us to Heaven."

"Well, there's no one I'd rather die with than with you, Solid Snake."

"That's reassuring, Samus Aran. But to be honest, I'd rather wait a bit before going through the pearly gates. Let's just go home."

Sam couldn't agree more, and without another word, without any hesitation or doubt, the two smashed minds walked into the light together.

 


	14. Nevermore

Epilogue: Nevermore

The boat cut cleanly through the dark waves, sending the boat bobbing gently back and forth as Kapp'n rowed steadily through the misty rain. His meager rowboat was a far cry from the large vessel he had commanded before, but the old man thought it fit him better. It had been easy to obtain, after all- only three days ago, some had reported a beam of light shooting into the air from the direction of the island where the infamous Mansion lay. Upon hearing these reports, Kapp'n had told his crew he would no longer need their services, and had sold his boat for his current mode of transportation, and set off for the island.

Everything, like always, was a misty gray upon the sea, and inside Kapp'n yearned for warm sunny summer days, the kind he had spent with his wife and daughter long ago. So much time had passed since he had seen them, but a day never went by when he didn't think of them. Would they forgive him for leaving so suddenly? He had hoped so, but he wasn't sure.

From out of the clouded mists came the rocky and familiar outline of the island's formidable coast. A month had passed since he had brought the eager reporter to this very spot, and Kapp'n was sure that the dock would be empty when he arrived. After all, the boy had shown the same spark of curiosity that could be easily mistaken for madness. He too could fall victim to the treacherous ways of the land.

However, as Kapp'n neared the dock, the mist parted to reveal a figure waiting upon it, a black umbrella perched delicately over their shoulder to keep the drizzling rain at bay. Kapp'n blinked, and then blinked again, hardly daring to believe what he saw as he stopped rowing. The boat glided forward and bumped against the dock with a small thunk, and he broke into a smile as he stared up at his visitor. "Well, whaddya kno'."

"Hello Kapp'n," Rosalina greeted the man with a small smile. "Mind if I come aboard?"

"Naw, 'ere's plenty o' room- but I take it th' boy..."

"You mean David?" Gently, she stepped down into the boat while taking the hand that the captain offered, and sat down with the umbrella still on one shoulder. "Ah, that's right- you were supposed to pick him up today, weren't you?"

"Aye, but somethin' tells me 'e's no longer here."

"You're right: he isn't." A momentary silence drifted down, interrupted only by the pattern of rainfall. "No one is here, actually. I'm the only one left."

"Wha?" Kapp'n's squinty eyes widened in surprise. "Is 'e...did 'e..."

"Yes, he found out all here isn't what it seems to be, and he managed to get Main's machine to work. A few days ago, he fought Main to keep him from destroying everything, and now he and the others are in their rightful place."

"So we can go 'ome now." A larger smile spread across Kapp'n's cracked and worn face. "I can see m' little girl 'gain. And m' wife."

Rosalina nodded. "That's why I was waiting on you- I wanted to make sure you were with us before I left. I wouldn't dare leave you behind." Her smile faltered, as she quietly added, "Kapp'n, I'm so very sorry for keeping you away from your family for so long. I already served my penance for giving Main something he needed to complete that infernal machine, but knowing I separated you from the ones you love cannot be so easily forgiven."

"Eet's not yur fault, m'dear," Kapp'n remarked softly. "Ya did yer best, and eet worked."

Rosalina seemed to find this hard to believe. "If only I hadn't given him what he needed...it's partially my fault we ended up here, because of what I gave him. That's why I served under Main, since I thought it would be a way to repay the crimes I had inadvertently caused. Yet in my time here, I have seen so many lies, so much hatred, and so much death. "

Kapp'n said not a word as his companion looked up at the cloudy skies, and the rain traced soft watery patterns down her cheeks. "Master Hand let himself be corrupted by power, and in the end, he received his just desserts. However, being here made me wonder...what is the limit of our sanity, Kapp'n? How do we know that our lives are our own, that our memories are in fact true? What if this is all nothing more than a dream? I know it seems silly now, since I know the life I live is my own, but after so many years of parroting Main's lies, I find the truth to be...questionable."

"Then what do ye believe?"

She thought for a moment. "I believe we all walk a fine line between sanity and insanity, and that sometimes that line becomes blurred. Yet, in the end, it all boils down to what we believe, and to ourselves that becomes the truth. The truth can set you free, Kapp'n, but it also can destroy your world...the question is if you are ready to accept the truth and all of its consequences." As she spoke, a smile drifted back onto her face, while she continued, "I knew David was one of those people who sought the truth and the answers as soon as I laid eyes on him. He was so naive, he needed guidance, and therefore the others and I helped him along. In a way, everyone here- David, Isaac, the Starling Court- was looking for the answer to the question we all asked ourselves: what is the truth? Luckily for us, David was the one to find it, and now we can finally see the answer with our own eyes."

The captain nodded slowly. "So, yer ready t' go then?"

"Yes, Kapp'n. It's time for me to return at last to my home, and for you to return to your world. It's been long enough- no more waiting."

He couldn't agree more, but just as he went to row away, something about Rosalina caught his eyes. At some point, she had traded in her nurse's uniform for a sea-green dress- how it had escaped his notice before was puzzling, but its fabric seemed to glow faintly and mesmerize him. "Gar, is that...?"

"Yes- I haven't worn it since I arrived here with the others."

"But what 'bout th' little thin' on eet?"

Her pale hand reached for the piece of fabric near her neck, where something had been sewn on in black thread- something that faintly resembled a bird. There was an accompanying chuckle from Rosalina. "Ah, this is a raven. It's a reminder of something I did during my time at the Mansion, so that I never forget what happened here...I think I might tell you the story behind it one day, if we ever meet again."

"Eet's one I'll be lookin' forward t' hearing. Now, let's be off!"

The thought of seeing his family again made Kapp'n let out a creaky laugh as he cast off, and he began to hum an old song that reminded him of the seas he had once traveled. Rosalina absentmindedly brushed droplets of water off the symbol that now adorned her dress, and turned her attention to the island. "Goodbye," she whispered under her breath, and for a moment she could have sworn the fog lifted enough for her to see the outline of a mansion in the distance, one that stood proud against the crashing waves and crumbling landscape that surrounded it.

Then the dense clouds of fog rushed in once more, and the island and boat disappeared into the ether, leaving behind nothing more than the lull of dark water and the memory of what once had been.

~Fin~

 


End file.
